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Gestalt Diagnostics: Digitizing the Anatomic Pathology Workflow

CIO VendorLisa-Jean Clifford, COO & Chief Strategy Officer
Pathology, the branch of medical science that deals with disease detection, interpretation, and definitive diagnosis, is undergoing a paradigm shift with the advancement of technology. For decades, pathologists have provided diagnoses by examining tissue specimens under a microscope. This process comes with downsides that include innate delays in the workflow and risk involved with the transfer of glass slides across different locations. However, today, digital pathology surmounts the limitations of traditional microscopy and converts the analog microscopic images on glass slides into digital images that can be viewed, managed, and analyzed on a computer screen. It even streamlines reassignment of cases and images either automatically or almost instantly, thus, creating a significant impact on the turnaround times and ROI. “Digital pathology accelerates the diagnosis and treatment of an illness by improving workflow efficiencies and reducing the time taken for research, validation, secondary consults, and tumor board preparations,” begins Lisa-Jean Clifford, COO and chief strategy officer, Gestalt Diagnostics. Leveraging the capability of this dynamic, image-based information environment, Gestalt Diagnostics is transforming the pathology workflow through their enterprise-level software solution—PathFlow. Built upon the foundation of a widely adopted radiology workflow solution, PathFlow is platform- and vendor-agnostic, and hence can be integrated with any scanner, electronic health record (EHR), or laboratory information system (LIS). Once the glass slides are prepared, they can be scanned and the digital images can then be sent to any pathologist or physician for review, annotations, comments and archiving.

“Pathologists experience several challenges with regard to transportation of slides between facilities and time involved in preparing reports; all of these processes are tedious, manual, and time-consuming,” states Clifford.

Digital pathology accelerates the diagnosis and treatment of an illness by improving workflow efficiencies and reducing the time taken for research, validation, secondary consults, and tumor board preparations


However, Gestalt’s solution offers a competitive advantage to pathologists by allowing them to share cases and results anywhere and at any time, resulting in faster diagnosis, and improved quality. Additionally, the PathFlow solution provides a secure platform to acquire pathology images and clinical data, route the case to the appropriate pathologist, and receive secondary consults in return. “We have a unique pathologist cockpit that allows pathologists to access all of the relevant case information including digital images, which are essential to complete their unique, streamlined workflow without the necessity of being mired in the LIS,” adds Clifford. Gestalt’s solution also eliminates expensive courier costs, reduces turnaround time, and improves revenue streams.

A distinct factor that makes Gestalt standout among peers is that the company assigns a separate team to each customer from the time they purchase the solution until post-live operational use to ensure a hands-on approach and successful implementation and training for best long-term ROI. The PathFlow solution also offers a pathologist-centric workflow aggregator that enables case review, case management, and worklists for multiple facilities while providing consistent clinical data about the patient.

Clifford credits Gestalt’s ongoing success to her team, “Everyone from our knowledgeable and experienced leadership team to each individual contributor, all of Gestalt’s employees are passionate, dedicated, and driven to deliver the best, full-featured solution.” Moving ahead, the company is planning on expanding its solution to provide additional features and functionalities, such as artificial intelligence, that would contribute to both the growth of the company as well as meet customers’ needs.