The Sanitas Group of Colombia chose Roche for the supply of fully automated diagnostics solutions that will enhance the working processes of one of the largest laboratory networks in Latin America. The Sanitas Group is an association of central laboratories, hospitals and ambulance centers with more than 40 collecting points for blood samples located throughout the country.
The existing operational structure of the Sanitas Group’s laboratories was at maximum capacity and did not allow handling of additional testing requests. As the Group was planning further expansion, its decentralised structure also required an IT solution that would allow healthcare professionals at hospitals and laboratories to easily manage patient data across sites.
Sanitas opted to install the cobas® 8000 modular analyzer series from Roche. cobas 8000 has been designed to accommodate the high workloads of large laboratories and to efficiently address peak demands. Sanitas also chose cobas connection modules, Roche’s latest innovation of automated sample flow management for large labs. This sample transport solution allows the laboratory staff less manual intervention and ensures streamlined processing to Roche PVT pre-analytical systems, subsequent cobas analyzers and postanalytical units.
“Sanitas is the first laboratory network in Colombia to implement a fully automated diagnostics line-up in its large reference laboratory. We chose cobas from Roche because of its integrated modular platform approach, including pre-analytic, analytic and storage solutions,” said Dr Mario Isaza, Vice President of Innovation and Technology at Sanitas Group.
Sanitas also decided on a comprehensive restructuring of its IT environment to allow remote access to patient data from hospitals and ambulatory health centres. With the implementation of the cobas IT solution Roche enables Sanitas lab professionals a transparent management of patient results, irrespective of the origin of the information. “The Roche IT solutions array allows us to effectively use our resources. It improves quality, and reduces manual steps. For
us this is a new era in managing patient information from multiple sites,” added Isaza. The installed solution is Roche’s latest advance of customised IT applications for managing laboratory workflows.
In order to better consolidate patient data from multiple instruments in point-of-care settings across hospital and ambulance centres cobas IT 1000 will help them manage patient data from a single point. Doctors and nurses will have a variety of options for transferring test results to patients’ electronic medical records.
Roche’s automated process management solutions help consolidate the effective use of resources by driving efficient workflows, reducing manual labour, and providing greater availability, transparency and control of information that is needed for reliable clinical decision-making. As such, these solutions enable Sanitas laboratory managers to lower overall expenses and raise productivity in their routine work.
The solutions at Sanitas in Colombia will become a new reference and will be implemented in other countries in Latin America considering the Group’s further expansion strategy.
Roche Diagnostics Ltd.
