A wide-ranging set of recommended health information technology safety practices recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services is likely to accentuate the essential role that pathologists and laboratory leaders play in minimizing the adverse consequences of health IT.

Pathologists and lab experts involved with developing the guidance say it could serve as a North Star for how health care organizations can improve IT safety, especially with regard to better test tracking and results display. But some of the functionalities the recommendations call for are not yet widely available, and the recommended practices could represent a big implementation challenge for laboratories.

My latest in CAP TODAY. Read the whole shebang.