SaaS vs Hosting Your Own Cloud LIS: What is Best for Your Laboratory
Many think SaaS-based LIS and cloud LIS are the same things, but they are not. Learn how we define and differentiate SaaS-based LIS vs a cloud LIS and provide you with 6 reasons why a SaaS-based LIS is a better option.
- SaaS (Software as a Service) LIS is defined as any kind of laboratory information system where a 3rd party vendor hosts, maintains and supports the LIS in the cloud. It is available via the internet and is also known as web-based LIS or on-demand LIS. Laboratories will not own the software or hardware but pay to access the application.
- Cloud LIS: Better known as private cloud-hosted LIS, is any LIS that is running in the cloud and is hosted within the walls of the lab, and is managed by the lab’s IT team internally.
Product Updates
By definition, a SaaS-based LIS has a single live/production version meaning you’ll receive updates like performance improvements to feature enhancements. All the updates happen in the background without user interruption.
On the other hand, having software installed on-premise private cloud LIS would require multiple teams to update which makes pushing patch updates expensive and less frequent. Also, major software upgrades usually incur additional investment. Pushing updates requires downtime and lab IT involvement to push the updates on all workstations.
Hosting Costs
There are a lot of hidden costs to maintaining a cloud LIS. First, the facility your servers are located in will need to be HIPAA compliant in order to host patient data. Second, the initial investment for hardware is expensive and upgrading hardware for better performance or storage space will incur additional investment.
Maintenance
With a Saas-based LIS like NovoPath 360, we take care of all required maintenance for the environment. On the flip side, a cloud LIS requires heavy involvement from lab IT which turns into extended projects and increases costs.
Security & Compliance
A cloud LIS application requires the lab to take all the security precautions from a data perspective. Although most IT departments are always on alert, given the constant attacks on healthcare institutions, it’s becoming more and more expensive for labs to secure their data.
SaaS-based LIS applications especially if hosted with a HIPAA-compliant provider (AWS, Azure, etc…) can mitigate some of those costs. However, deploying a private cloud in these environments would mean more reliance on IT to guard against any vulnerabilities that this software may not account for since they’re not built as a cloud offering.
Having a SaaS LIS partner that is focused on offering a secure solution not only mitigates the costs but also relieves lab IT from additional risks. Being a SOC2-certified organization here at NovoPath allows us to offer a secure solution with the confidence to protect your data.
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
Your data is the most valuable asset for your lab. And although natural and otherwise unaccounted-for disasters are rare, as a business it’s imperative to take all precautions to protect your data and minimize business interruption.
Having a cloud LIS would mean either choosing between investing in replicating your hardware and infrastructure or carrying the risk of either losing data or extended downtimes.
A SaaS solution like NovoPath 360 comes with cloned environments across the nation eliminating any single-point failures and minimizing downtime to seconds.
Tracking & Audit
Although tracking and audits could be achieved through the cloud or SaaS applications alike, NovoPath offers built-in capabilities such as single-sign-on and specimen tracking that allow lab admins to control access with ease as well as the ability to audit every action by all users.
NovoPath 360 is also CFR 21 part 11 compliant which means that as an admin you will have the confidence to know what took place, when and by who.
For more information on the difference between SaaS and cloud LIS, download our white paper “New Drivers Pushing Beyond Cloud LIS to SaaS LIS”.
