While AI and EMRs dominate the conversation, the most urgent challenge may be hidden in plain sight—how labs connect and communicate.
When we talk about digital health, the conversation usually gravitates towards the big-ticket items: electronic medical records, AI-driven diagnostics, or national infrastructure strategies. But the reality is that much of modern medicine still hinges on something more fundamental: pathology. More than 70 per cent of clinical decisions rely on lab results. Yet, across our health system, pathology orders and results are still being typed in by hand.
Picture this: a pathology order arrives by fax or paper printout. A busy nurse or admin officer manually enters the data into the laboratory system. When a result is available, it’s also often typed into the patient record. In both instances, a misplaced digit, a smudged figure, or even a simple delay in typing it up can alter the clinical picture. Instead of providing answers, the process introduces new risks—duplication of tests, treatment delays, or even misdiagnosis. All of this because the system relies on manual data handling rather than seamless digital exchange.
Connectivity as critical infrastructure
We rarely think of pathology systems as infrastructure, but they are. Just like smart networks, broadband or roads, lab connectivity should be universal, reliable and invisible. When done well, nobody notices. But when it fails—or doesn’t exist—the consequences are immediate and serious. Incorrect diagnoses, repeat testing, transcription errors, and higher costs are all symptoms of the same disease: fragmented digital pathways.
The irony is that Australia has pockets of world-leading digital health, but pathology has been left behind, forced to rely on paper processes.
Why accuracy and timeliness matter most
In clinical care, there is no substitute for results that are both fast and 100 per cent accurate. Every hour saved in delivering a pathology result can change the trajectory of care—particularly in acute situations like suspected infection, cardiac events or oncology. Equally, every transcription error avoided prevents the risk of wrong treatment or wasted repeat testing.
The true promise of digital connectivity is not just speed, but trust. Clinicians need to know that the result in front of them is the definitive answer, transmitted directly from the laboratory without opportunity for human error. Patients deserve confidence that their diagnosis is based on data that is both timely and correct, every single time.
Challenges worth tackling
Pathology is, by its very nature, disparate. Laboratories all operate on different systems, with varying degrees of digital maturity. This diversity reflects the strength of Australia’s pathology sector, but also makes connectivity incredibly complex. A result that flows seamlessly in one network can hit a dead end in another.
The answer is system-agnostic connectivity—solutions that can bridge multiple environments without demanding standardisation of data, or wholesale replacement of existing systems. By creating a universal digital backbone that respects the autonomy of individual labs while enabling seamless data flow, we can overcome fragmentation without forcing everyone into the same mould.
The challenge, then, is not whether we can build such solutions—they already exist and are being used to great effect overseas —but whether we can create the policy, funding and governance frameworks to adopt them at scale. Until we do, the last mile of pathology will remain the weak link in digital health.
The call to action
Australia has an opportunity to close the last mile gap in pathology and, in doing so, create a health system that is not only smarter but fairer. That requires collaboration: government ministers, policymakers, labs, technology vendors, clinicians and patients working together to make seamless connectivity the norm.
If digital health is to deliver on its promise, we need to look beyond the shiny front-end tools and focus on the infrastructure that makes them possible. Pathology connectivity may not be glamorous, but it is essential. It is time to recognise it for what it truly is: the invisible bridge between diagnosis and care, equity and inequity, delay and life-saving action.
Because in healthcare, the last mile is often the most important.
