Dive Brief:
- Labcorp said Tuesday it will make its full test menu available through Epic’s platform for ordering and receiving lab results.
- Epic licenses the platform, called Aura, to diagnostic labs to help make their tests available to its users. Aura is used by multiple medtech organizations, including Labcorp’s main rival, Quest Diagnostics.
- Labcorp inherited a relationship with Epic when it bought Invitae, which began using Aura in 2023, and expanded access to the acquired genetic tests through the platform last year.
Dive Insight:
Traditionally, physicians ordered tests by faxing paper orders and received results as PDFs. The processes were initially digitized on a lab-by-lab basis. Epic developed Aura to eliminate the need for health systems to integrate with each lab partner, a process Labcorp said can be long, complex and time-consuming. Aura users can order tests and receive results through their existing Epic workflows.
Diagnostic labs have embraced the Epic platform. Abbott’s Exact Sciences, Roche’s Foundation Medicine, Guardant Health and Quest Diagnostics are among the companies already providing lab tests via the platform.
Quest partnered with Epic last year to use Aura and other software across its national lab network. Aura users can access Quest’s personalized oncology, advanced prenatal screening and Alzheimer’s disease tests through the platform.
Labcorp provides its catalog of more than 400 hereditary genetic tests via Aura. Having used Aura for the Invitae tests, Labcorp is now adding its full test menu to reduce IT complexity, streamline lab ordering and improve access to diagnostics. The company expects the expansion to simplify client onboarding and IT maintenance while reducing reliance on manual processes or workarounds.
The deal continues the growth of Aura, which is also being used by medical device companies. Most of the companies on the platform are diagnostic labs, but users can also order iRhythm Technologies’ Zio ambulatory cardiac monitoring service via the platform. Boston Scientific and Philips are working to add their cardiac monitoring capabilities to the network.
