LabKey partnered with the Wisconsin National Primate Center (WNPRC) and Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) to develop systems for managing and reporting on electronic health records (EHR) and related research data for primate colonies. These systems were adopted by other Primate Research Centers (PRCs) and extended through an EHR Collaboration project bringing the needs of each center to the table. Using LabKey EHR tools, the Centers gain insight into combined lab, clinical and operational information; meet regulatory requirements; and coordinate the activities required to support animal care and research projects. The Centers share a common core EHR implementation, built on LabKey Server, which each Center further customizes to support its own unique workflows and requirements.
Center staff use their LabKey-based systems to enter and track everyday animal information, including weights and behavioral observations; medications and other treatments; scheduling and request approval for activities such as blood draws and surgeries; birth, death, and necropsy information; lab results such as chem panels; and more. Staff members with access to the EHR system can easily query information about specific animals and find matching animals based on search criteria. A flexible permission model ensures that only approved staff members can add, approve, and edit information.
Centers rely heavily on the system to help manage regulatory and compliance data as well as to prevent errors. IACUCs, SOPs, trainings and related information are stored and queryable. Data validation catches many problems before they are entered, such as scheduling of blood draws that would exceed species-specific limits. Automated reports send alerts when problems appear, such as animals with conflicting housing records or who are overdue to be weighed.
Additionally, Centers have integrated lab research data with the clinical and demographic information from the EHR, allowing researchers to access detailed animal records without needing to maintain their own copies. Labs have their own private areas that manage sequencing, immunology, and other assay data. Selected information is pushed back into the EHR on a manual or automated basis depending on the desired workflow.
Integration with Center billing and invoicing systems is under development. Collaboration continues between LabKey and all participating Centers to maximize the applicability of solutions and share lessons learned in deployment of EHR systems.