Feature
Lab interface software for your EMR, in both directions
Bi-directional lab and HL7 interfacing — orders go out electronically and results come back into the chart automatically. No faxes, no manual re-entry.
Provider places the order in the chart
Order transmits electronically to the lab via HL7
Result returns as data, matched to the order
No more retyping lab values
Results arrive as structured data matched to the order, not a fax someone re-keys by hand.
Orders and results, both directions
Orders leave the chart electronically and results come back attached to the right patient automatically.
Trend results over time
Discrete data can be flagged against a range and pulled into decision support — a scanned PDF can only be read.
Bi-directional
Orders go out, results come back — both directions, one interface
HL7 + FHIR
Built on the same standards ONC certification requires
Faxed lab results and manual data entry cost your staff time and introduce exactly the kind of transcription error that comes from retyping clinical data.
Criterions' lab and HL7 interfaces run in both directions — orders go out electronically when the provider places them, and results come back into the chart discretely, attached to the right patient and the right order, without anyone rekeying a value.
Bi-Directional Exchange
What "bi-directional" actually means, and why one direction isn't enough
Plenty of systems described as lab-integrated only receive. Results arrive electronically, which is genuinely better than a fax — but the order still gets placed by hand, on a requisition, outside the chart. That leaves the two most error-prone moments intact: writing the order and matching the result back to it.
A bi-directional HL7 interface closes both. The order leaves the chart electronically with the patient and test already identified, and the result returns matched to that order as discrete data your provider can trend, rather than as a PDF sitting in a document queue.
Structured Data
Results as data, not as documents
A result that arrives as discrete data can be trended, flagged against a range, and pulled into a decision-support rule. A result that arrives as a scanned PDF can be read. That difference compounds over a patient's history in a way that isn't obvious until the first time a provider wants to see three years of one value on a single line.
Lab interfacing runs on HL7, the same standard the labs themselves run on, alongside the FHIR-based exchange required under ONC certification. And because Criterions integrates broadly with outside systems, connecting the labs a practice already sends to generally doesn't mean changing where you send.
Frequently asked questions
What is a lab interface?+
A lab interface is an electronic connection between a practice's EHR and a laboratory that lets orders and results move automatically instead of by fax or manual entry. A bi-directional interface carries both — the order out and the result back — using HL7, the messaging standard labs already use.
Is the interface bi-directional?+
Yes. Orders are transmitted electronically from the chart and results return into the chart as discrete data matched to the originating order.
Do I need Criterions EHR for lab interfacing?+
Yes — lab interfacing is tied to the clinical chart, so it's available with Criterions EHR rather than as a standalone addition to Practice Management.
Every retyped lab value is a clinical error waiting to happen
Transcription mistakes in clinical data aren't a productivity problem, they're a patient safety one, and they happen for a completely mundane reason: someone is reading a number off a fax and typing it into a chart, dozens of times a day, at speed.
Bi-directional HL7 interfacing removes the typing from the loop entirely. Orders leave the chart already identified and results come back matched to them, as data rather than as a document.
Over 250 practices and billing companies run on Criterions. If you want to know what connecting your specific labs looks like, that's a concrete question a demo can answer in a few minutes.