How to Choose Pathology Lab Softwarein India: A 10-Point Checklist

A lot of labs never really choose their first software. It comes bundled with a dealer’s offer, or a friend’s lab uses it, or it’s the cheapest quote on the table. A year later the owner is paying for things nobody mentioned, and the doctors are still complaining about the report layout.

If you’re buying now, or thinking of switching, ask these ten questions before you pay anything.

1. What will my bill be at my volume?

Ignore the headline price. Ask what a normal month costs at your number of reports. Some software charges per report, per registration or per SMS, and small fees add up. ₹1 a report sounds like nothing. At 60 reports a day it’s about ₹1,800 a month, before message credits.

2. How long is the trial, and is anything locked?

A trial that ends before you’ve run a full week isn’t much of a trial. You need time to put real patients through it, with every feature switched on.

3. Who moves my old data?

Your patients, test list and rate lists live in Excel, a register or another program. Ask who imports them and whether that’s billed separately. “You can enter it yourself” means weeks of your staff’s evenings. If you are coming off a register or a spreadsheet, our step-by-step guide to moving a lab from Excel to software shows what the import actually involves.

4. How fast can we go live, and who trains the staff?

Your front desk decides whether new software works. Ask how many days setup takes, whether training is included, and who picks up the phone when something breaks on a busy Sunday morning.

5. Can the report look like ours?

Doctors notice when a report changes. You should be able to use your own letterhead, choose a layout, and print on pre-printed stationery if that’s what you use today. Our report format guide shows what a clean report needs.

6. What does WhatsApp delivery cost?

Most patients want the report on their phone, not a printout. Ask whether each WhatsApp message costs extra, and whether email and print are included.

7. Who can sign a report?

A report isn’t final until the right person verifies it. Only users you authorise should be able to sign, and the software should record who signed and when. You’ll want that record the day a doctor calls with a question.

8. Will it handle a second branch?

One lab today doesn’t mean one lab in three years. Ask whether each branch or collection centre can bill on its own while you see everything from one login.

9. What happens when something goes wrong?

What happens when the internet drops? Are backups automatic? And if you leave one day, can you take all your data with you? A vendor who hesitates on that last one is telling you something.

10. Does it connect to my analysers?

If you want results to flow straight from your machines, ask which models are supported and see it working with yours. Not every lab software does this. Pathora doesn’t, today.

Where Pathora stands

We built Pathora around the first question. Nothing is metered: no per-report, per-registration or per-message fees. The first month is free and needs no card. Data import and training are part of onboarding, and most labs are live within a day. We’ve also put Pathora side by side with other lab software, including where the others do better.

Take this list into every demo, including ours.