In the field of anatomic pathology, there are several challenges that laboratories face. These include declining reimbursement, competition from physicians establishing in-office pathology labs, and a host of new government laws and regulations. In addition, there are issues of decreasing availability of trained personnel and a rapid increase in such technological advances as molecular and genetic testing, automation, and computerization. Today, the anatomic pathology laboratory setting looks to move to a digital workflow and incorporate AI algorithms for pathologist aids. In the Education setting, they are looking to perform credentialing and credentialing management, onboard and train pathologists, and provide academic courses, training, and competency testing for students and residents. In the Research setting, there are a variety of uses, from managing large image and data banks to performing clinical trials to supporting drug discovery and testing.

Gestalt Diagnostics transforms pathology through an intelligent, configurable, vendor-neutral, and AI-driven digital workflow that provides true interoperability, enabling pathologists to diagnose diseases faster and more efficiently. Its PathFlow solution consists of professional, education, and research modules for ease of mixing and matching the digital needs of users’ facility in a single solution, freeing pathologists from tedious, repetitive, and manual tasks and allowing them to focus on their expertise, providing invaluable experience where it matters most.

In 2018, Gestalt built its flagship product, PathFlow®, based upon its experience and expertise in a radiology PACS – Image Management System. The company’s experience in radiology forged its success in developing and deploying a fully digital pathology solution specifically for Pathology labs. The company’s Advisory Board contains industry-leading pathologists who continually weigh in on their development plans and the usability of their solutions in clinical practice, education, and research. In 2019, Gestalt acquired Peak Medical Services to expand its digital pathology integration services, IT and cloud-based solutions & support, staff augmentation, and legacy LIS support division.

A Unique Solution

Gestalt’s solutions provide significant efficiency gains in automated workflows, true interoperability of applications to offer a 360-degree view of the patient, a single environment for access to all available information on a patient from multiple sources, and deeply integrated AI algorithms for faster and more accurate support in diagnosis. All of this includes identifying specific tumor types, allowing for correct and individual treatment identification for patients, and providing the best outcomes. “We are continually taking our customers feedback during all phases of interaction with them from the initial demonstration all the way through ongoing feedback after go-live to continue to develop and enhance our solutions,” says Lisa-Jean Clifford, COO & Chief Strategy Officer of Gestalt. “We also have a Pathologist Advisory Board, with well-respected industry pathologists who lean in on our new feature identification, development, testing and help determine how it is used in practice – ensuring that it works in everyday use for our customers the way they need it to.”

The company’s solutions are a perfect fit for any health systems and laboratories because of Gestalt’s design and development philosophy. The solutions are highly customizable and modular based to ensure flexibility in deployment and adaption of use once deployed. This philosophy also provides for true interoperability, allowing our customers to work with the hardware (scanners) and other applications (LIS, LIMS, EMR, EHR, AI) they either choose or already have invested in. “Our development also includes the input of our customers, our esteemed Pathologist Advisory Board and our employees with tens of decades of combined experience in the industry,” adds Lisa-Jean. “All of our applications are highly secure, meeting all healthcare and software security guidelines and requirements. We have three security levels and offer our customers the ability to run their own testing (some have done it using a third-party and others have done it themselves) to ensure their comfort with our security.”

Building A Strong Future

Gestalt has announced strategic relationships with several industry vendors, ensuring that their solutions and platform remains flexible, interoperable and provides their customers with a robust offering of options to meet their evolving needs.  Partnerships include LIS, scanner, AI, voice recognition, storage, EHR, EMR and structured reporting vendors.  Here is what some of Gestalt’s customers and partners are saying about them first hand:

“Our collaboration with Gestalt will provide labs and pathologists the quality they have come to expect in whole slide imaging and raise confidence in digital adoption.” said Prasanth Perugupalli, Chief Product Officer of Pramana.

“The combination of Gestalt’s digital workflow platform and MindPeak’s AI offers BioReference customers AI-assisted diagnostic tools that provides streamlined, optimal patient care,” said, Ellen Beausang, Senior Vice President of Advanced Diagnostics at BioReference Laboratories.

Dylan Miller, MD, who co-led the digital pathology implementation strategy at Intermountain Healthcare, noted, “Combining the flexibility, reliability, and durability of Hamamatsu’s latest generation scanning technology with Gestalt’s highly adaptable and interoperable image management and reporting solution has been an ideal pairing. We are able to meet diverse and dynamic needs across multiple lab sites and pathology groups in our system as we are rolling out digital pathology because of this tremendous partnership.”

The Gestalt team feels very strongly that their market position is one of the best due to their approach to a partnership with their customers as well as other complimentary vendors in the space. Gestalt has several of the largest laboratories, biorepositories, and healthcare systems as its customers today. By listening to the market needs of customers as they continue to evolve in their uses of digital and staying ahead of the technology capabilities, Gestalt is confident they will continue to maintain their market advantage. “We have several plans on our roadmap, to include continued development for all of our existing solutions, new partnerships that will expand our capabilities and use for existing and new customers, providing access to clients who previously couldn’t afford to employ digital, like with our PathFlow AP Quick Start. We are working on several opportunities outside of North America today and do plan to continue that expansion,” Lisa-Jean elucidates. “We continue to develop and provide solutions that meet our customers’ needs, not just to expand the features and functionality of existing solutions.”

It is pertinent to mention, that Gestalt’s AI development team is exceptional – and has won several awards and competitions with the performance of its AI algorithms Internationally. They provide an AI requisition engine for improving the speed and accuracy of accessioning, which is a significant pain point for laboratories of all types. This helps eliminate paper and human errors and helps with the employment shortage. “In addition, we have an award-winning IT services team that provides a cloud-based interface hub, staff augmentation, project management and legacy LIS support to include creating and managing over 1800 interfaces, most of the major LIS’s, EMR’s, EHR’s, state and regulatory reporting bodies,” adds Lisa-Jean.