The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programs (RCPAQAP) is a global leader dedicated to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of pathology results, a crucial component of patient care. With a mission to enhance diagnostic standards across various medical disciplines, RCPAQAP serves laboratories worldwide, offering comprehensive external quality assurance services. As the organization expanded, the need for a streamlined and cohesive digital platform became increasingly apparent.

To meet this challenge, RCPAQAP partnered with Kilterset, a software development agency known for its expertise in crafting custom solutions that integrate systems and data efficiently. Together, they launched a project to realign RCPAQAP’s technical infrastructure with their vision of providing world-class pathology services, modernizing and unifying systems to support their growing global operations.

Replatforming legacy systems for scalable pathology solutions

RCPAQAP faced technical challenges as they scaled their business due to the way they handled the fragmented, independently operated legacy systems across their organization. These siloed systems created inefficiencies and complicated data management, making it difficult to achieve a unified view of overall laboratory performance and results. The disjointed infrastructure slowed report generation and ability for laboratories to respond to potential testing errors.

Kilterset developers aimed to replatform these disparate systems onto a cohesive platform. They were challenged to design a solution that integrated legacy systems, provided scalability for peak workloads, and maintained data integrity across disciplines. Security was also a paramount concern, given the sensitive nature of the healthcare data. Additionally, the team had to ensure that the new platform could streamline workflows and reduce ongoing maintenance burdens, setting the stage for future growth and continued innovation.

Streamlining lab operations with Heroku's scalable solutions

Kilterset recommended Heroku for replatforming RCPAQAP’s systems due to its simplicity, scalability, and the ability to rapidly deploy a cohesive platform. With prior experience using Heroku, they knew it could efficiently consolidate disparate systems into a unified solution. Heroku’s intuitive platform facilitated rapid development and deployment, crucial for managing RCPAQAP’s complex needs and peak workloads. Leveraging comprehensive documentation, Kilterset quickly ramped up building a custom solution by experimenting with code pushed to GitHub and deploying it on Heroku, enabling swift iteration without relying on a dedicated DevOps team.

Their first priority was to establish basic functionality on the new platform, enabling lab users to record results and view reports from data spread across multiple department systems. Kilterset selected Heroku Private Spaces for its secure, scalable environment and implemented Heroku Postgres as a central database from day one due to its ease of data management, which handles maintenance, offers seamless scalability, and ensures zero downtime. They used the Salesforce Streaming API to transfer lab report data into Heroku Postgres and built an additional API to enable data-driven functionality. This setup not only connected information across various departments but also enhanced data security and compliance by restricting database access exclusively to their Heroku Dyno infrastructure. Heroku's inherent scalability was critical during peak periods, allowing RCPAQAP to manage traffic surges effectively without compromising performance. This streamlined and secure architecture made it easier for the organization to monitor and manage all aspects of their operations efficiently, setting a strong foundation for future growth.

As RCPAQAP’s needs evolved, Kilterset leveraged Heroku Review Apps to quickly prototype new features, gathering feedback and iterating on the platform’s capabilities. This agile approach enabled the efficient expansion of the platform adding new functionality including dashboards, advanced analytics, and data extraction tools. These additions allowed users to troubleshoot test results more effectively, ensuring compliance with accreditation standards and good laboratory practices, ultimately improving the accuracy and reliability of patient diagnoses. Heroku's scalability and seamless integration capabilities helped streamline record-keeping, making processes faster, easier, and more reliable.

Integrating consolidated data deeply into the system has also proven invaluable for laboratory leadership. When industry leaders request specific reports, RCPAQAP can quickly generate them using Heroku Dataclips. This feature enables access to information from their unified Postgres database, allowing for ad hoc queries, saving results, and easily exploring the data. The agility provided by these tools allows RCPAQAP to deliver key insights in just 15 minutes on average, demonstrating the platform’s efficiency and responsiveness without requiring a full engineering solution.

During the pandemic, we had to rapidly create a testing platform in just three to four weeks. Heroku’s low-friction infrastructure allowed us to spin up and iterate quickly, making it one of the most efficient projects I’ve worked on. The speed and agility Heroku provided enabled us to focus on innovation rather than getting slowed down by repetitive DevOps tasks. Daniel Fone, Lead Software Engineer, Kilterset

Operational gains and innovation through Heroku integration

By integrating Heroku into their operations, RCPAQAP achieved significant improvements in operational efficiency, user experience, and data management.

Enhanced reliability and efficiency

Heroku's scalable infrastructure seamlessly handles traffic spikes during peak periods, ensuring zero downtime and maintaining consistent performance. Heroku’s platform enabled RCPAQAP to efficiently manage complex lab data and operations, consolidating disparate systems into a unified solution. As a result, RCPAQAP reduced the burden of maintaining multiple legacy systems and sped up development and deployment cycles, allowing their small development team to focus on innovation rather than troubleshooting.

Streamlined user experience and data management

Heroku Postgres played a critical role in streamlining data management and improving the user experience. By providing a single source of truth, the platform enabled lab technicians and leadership to access and manage data more effectively. This consolidation reduced errors and sped up reporting. The user-friendly interface, combined with efficient data processing capabilities, allowed labs to transition from cumbersome paper-based systems to a modern digital platform, improving workflow efficiency and compliance.

Empowered decision-making and innovation

The agile development environment provided by Heroku empowered RCPAQAP and Kilterset to rapidly prototype and deploy new features, such as advanced analytics and dashboards. This capability allowed them to respond swiftly to customer needs, continuously improving the platform's capabilities. The integration of Heroku Dataclips facilitated on-demand access to critical insights, enabling quick, informed decision-making by lab leadership. This agility not only enhanced operational efficiency but also supported RCPAQAP’s mission to maintain high standards in pathology quality assurance, ultimately improving patient care.

Heroku allowed us to consolidate our systems into a more efficient and reliable digital platform. This shift has not only streamlined our operations but also enabled us to deliver higher-quality services to our customers, ultimately enhancing patient care. Derek Holzhauser, Chief Information Officer, Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programs

What’s next for RCPAQAP?

RCPAQAP and Kilterset are focused on further enhancing their platform by introducing more detailed performance dashboards that will provide insights at various organizational levels, from individual tests to overarching lab performance metrics. They also aim to enable more precise data interaction by allowing comments on individual data points, which will improve tracking and reporting accuracy.

As Kilterset continues to build on RCPAQAP’s Heroku-based platform, the companies plan to explore additional features and integrations within the Heroku ecosystem to support innovation. Learn more about how Kilterset crafts custom solutions or RCPAQAP’s mission of delivering world-class pathology services check out their respective websites.