The Ortho Connect v2.0 middleware system from Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Raritan, NJ, has received FDA premarket notification (510(k)) clearance. The customizable middleware system centralizes laboratory operations and workflow across hospitals and networks, allowing blood banks and their data to be confidently managed through one central terminal.

To exchange data and simplify processes, the middleware system also enables the Ortho Vision and Ortho Vision Max immunohematology analyzers, which test blood for transfusion compatibility, to integrate with a hospital’s laboratory information systems (LIS) through a single validated connection.

“Ortho is focused on diminishing the complexities of immunohematology testing while improving safety, speed, and efficiency throughout the blood bank,” says Robert Yates, chief operating officer at Ortho. “Ortho Connect does just that, bringing improved functionality to LISs that are often relatively rigid and outdated. It’s the perfect complement to our Ortho Vision platform of analyzers.”

Using Ortho Connect, labs can consolidate operations and workflow across lab networks. Acting as an intermediary among instruments and LISs, it allows labs to exchange data, perform data management, and complete regulatory process tasks that are not easily performed alone. The system enables labs to centralize lab operations and workflow across their network so that all test results on connected analyzers can be viewed, verified, and interacted with no matter the location.

The Connect system also serves to simplify data management and testing processes through lab network connectivity. Through this functionality, the system works to support a lab’s ability to improve safety and efficiency at every step of the testing process. By bridging the gap between instruments and hospital sites, Ortho Connect centralizes data access and management for greater control.

Ortho Connect was developed to address the demands placed on lab managers, whose limited staff have diverse skill sets and are asked to serve an expanding array of health networks. With cost containment and increased hemovigilance top of mind, lab managers need to consolidate and standardize their instruments while optimizing both automation and workflow.

On top of such resource challenges, labs are experiencing increased testing volume and data complexity due to a population that is living longer and with more complicated conditions. The Connect system efficiently manages such high variability to keep large quantities of data accessible and consistent across multiple instruments and laboratory systems, and works seamlessly with the scalable suite of products Ortho has developed for immunohematology labs.

For more information, visit Ortho Clinical Diagnostics.