The automated laboratory system begins in the physician's office and ends in the physician's office as well as the patient's home computer. The physician orders the lab test electronically. The order is entered into the system and can be accessed at any one of 250 specimen collection sites around the country when the patient presents himself and his magnetic card.

The specimens are bar coded (produced by the system for each test). When the specimen reaches the lab and is placed into the laboratory's automated system, the physician's order is called up by the computer.

All of the specimen analysis equipment is linked to the computer so that results flow automatically into system, linked to the physician's order for the tests. The test results are relayed automatically to the physician's computer as well as to an on line internet site which can be accessed by the patient from his own computer or at a self- service station at any one of Maccabi's 150 branch offices.

The laboratory itself is fully automated and most of the processes are performed by robots, reducing almost completely the possibility of human error. 

It is also capable of processing an exceedingly large number of tests. Today, the laboratory processes 20,000 specimens per day, and feeds back the results of 80% of them to the physician and the patient within a matter of hours. In addition, the lab processes more than 200,000 pathology tests and 50,000 genetic tests per year.