Expert systems in laboratory medicine: a practical consultative application.

Today, more than ever, clinical pathologists will be required to act as consultants, while at the same time coping with ever-increasing workloads. We present a knowledge-based expert system for providing interpretive reports on over 100 specimens per day in a large commercial laboratory. The program's developmental history is reviewed, followed by a description of the program's structure and operation and how it is used and edited.

Clinical pathology consultations: reports, requests, and reimbursement.

Pathologists have been consultants from the beginning of the specialty, and this advice, the author says, is needed more by clinicians today than ever before. Here, he details what true consultation reports are, how to produce them accurately and rapidly, how to get requests, and how to get paid under the regulations of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act.