If your clinic runs on Cliniko, blood test results probably live in two places: the lab's portal or email, and the patient record. Bridging that gap by hand takes time and invites errors. A proper integration closes it.
Why manual filing is a problem
Downloading a PDF, renaming it, finding the right patient and attaching it may only take a couple of minutes, but multiplied across every result it adds up. It also creates risk: the wrong patient, a missed result, or a report that never gets filed at all.
What a good integration should do
- Match the right patient. Orders should be linked to the Cliniko patient from the outset, so results are attached to the correct record.
- File the report automatically. The finished report should appear in the patient record without anyone uploading it.
- Keep a clear audit trail. You should be able to see what was ordered, when results arrived, and who approved the report.
- Fit around your process. Clinics differ. Some want every report reviewed before it is filed, others want speed.
Approval: review first, or file automatically
This is the most important design choice. With a clinician-approval workflow, a report is prepared and waits for a clinician to review and approve it before it is uploaded. With automatic approval, reports are filed to Cliniko as soon as they are ready. Automatic filing is faster, but it means no clinician has checked the report before it lands in the record, so clinics that choose it accept that responsibility themselves.
Neither option is right for everyone. A single-practitioner clinic with a well-defined panel may be comfortable with automatic filing; a multi-clinician practice with complex patients may want every report reviewed. The point is that you get to choose.
What an integration does not do
Be clear about what is and is not sent to patients. In HaemoSync, for example, nothing is sent to patients by the platform. Results go into your record, and your clinic decides how and when to communicate with the patient.
Questions to ask before you choose
- Is the Cliniko integration included on every plan, or only on higher tiers?
- Can we choose between clinician approval and automatic filing?
- How are patients matched, and what happens if a match fails?
- Which labs does the integration work with?
- Who holds the data, and how is it protected?
Getting started
Connecting Cliniko is typically a matter of authorising access and choosing your approval preference. If you would like to see how it works in practice, our Cliniko integration guide walks through the set-up, what data syncs, and security.