LIS lab information systems grew up in the clinical laboratory, where the unit of work is a patient's order rather than a client's sample and the record has to satisfy the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments before it satisfies anyone else. The acronym is used loosely today, and a small lab searching for one is as likely to be a veterinary bench, a physician office lab or a research core as a hospital department. This page explains what the systems behind the acronym hold, where they differ from a LIMS, what the federal rules expect of the record whichever name it carries, and where the free sheets on this site work the bench's own figures with no account, so the conversation with a laboratory information system company starts from the lab's numbers.
What an LIS holds that a LIMS does not
The order: who requested the test, for which patient, under which provider, and the result's route back to them. A LIMS keeps a client and a sample; an LIS keeps a patient, an order and a report that has to reach a clinician. Both keep the batch, the QC, the instrument and the reviewer, and both have to keep them in a way an inspector can follow. CLIA, administered by CMS with the CDC and the FDA, sets the requirements a clinical laboratory's records must meet; the CDC's CLIA pages are the place to read what the certificate types are and what each expects of the lab.
What the two share, and where the sheets sit
Underneath the order sits the same bench: samples become tests, tests run in batches with controls, results are reviewed, instruments are calibrated, reagents expire, freezers fill. Every one of the seven sheets on this site works for a clinical bench as it does for an analytical one: the intake sheet sizes the week, the results review sheet sizes the sign-out, the quality control sheet costs the scheme, the calibration sheet costs the year. None of them decides what the rules require; each shows what a decision costs.
Before the demo
Ask the company what the result record holds and who signs it, what it costs to run rather than to buy, and what happens to the record when the contract ends. The guide this page supports walks those three questions in order and starts from the results review sheet, because sign-out is where a small clinical bench feels the system first. Limslane Pro keeps a small lab's samples, results, lots and instruments at one flat price; it is not a clinical LIS and does not carry patient orders, and says so.
Questions people ask about lis lab information systems
What is the difference between an LIS and a LIMS?
An LIS keeps a patient, an order and a report routed to a clinician; a LIMS keeps a client and a sample. Both keep batches, controls, results, reviewers, instruments and reagent lots, and the acronyms are used loosely; ask a vendor which record they mean.
What does CLIA require of a lab information system?
CLIA sets requirements for clinical laboratory records, quality control and personnel; the CDC, CMS and FDA pages linked below are the primary sources and this site publishes no rule of its own. The sheets show what any scheme costs.
Can Limslane be used as an LIS?
No. Limslane keeps samples, results, lots and instruments for a small laboratory and works the sheets on them; it carries no patient orders and no clinician reporting. The free sheets work for a clinical bench's arithmetic all the same.