Cellarian & Shadowbox: Unlocking Efficiencies
How Reference Labs can Leverage Shadowbox and Cellarian
When you open up a lab you often think of your capabilities: client relationships, lab knowhow, and a wealth of expertise shared amongst key team members. What is often neglected are tactical and operational strategies that allow our labs to function with minimal friction or inefficiencies. In reality, we simply “don’t know what we don’t know”.
The Challenge of Documentation and Workflow Overload
High Complexity laboratories face increasing demands for speed, precision, and compliance. The workload is almost overwhelming. Providers want seamless ordering, payers demand patient-specific documentation, and regulators expect airtight audit trails. But many labs are stuck with costly workarounds: manual data entry, duplicative interfaces, or high denial rates when documentation doesn’t meet payer requirements. The result? Delays, lost revenue, and strained client relationships.
Per David Way, CHC, MAIS, a licensed healthcare administrator who has run POL, reference and hospital based labs - “the one thing no one ever plans for is human error…and Human Error is everywhere”.
Where, do you say?
Per Derrick Perkins, MBA, MHA, CSPPM, a revenue cycle specialist with GoSourceMD - “whether it be manual requisition forms, illegible insurance data, missing EHR information or a mis-typed ICD-10 codes, the human error factor is real and the result is denied claims.”
Shadowbox + Cellarian: A Complementary Partnership
Hence comes the solution. Two platforms—Shadowbox and Cellarian—together offer compelling solutions to these long-standing problems:
Shadowbox enables instant, HIPAA-compliant connectivity across EHRs, billing platforms, and payer portals, without costly interfaces. It eliminates “swivel-chair” data entry by synchronizing workflows across multiple applications in real time.
Cellarian specializes in automating patient-specific medical-necessity documentation, prior authorizations, and audit protection for labs—closing the compliance gaps that most often lead to payer denials.
Individually, each platform delivers measurable efficiencies. Combined, they create an ecosystem where lab orders are submitted once, routed correctly, and packaged with everything payers require for clean, first-pass reimbursement.
The most amazing part - they will each save you tens of thousands of dollars on integrations costs, lost staff productivity and denied claims.
Value for Reference Labs
A strategic partnership between Shadowbox and Cellarian translates into tangible benefits for labs:
Automation and decreased inefficiencies
Accelerated provider onboarding: Quickly connect with new practices without waiting months for custom interfaces.
Higher clean-claim rates: Orders arrive with payer-ready documentation, reducing denials and accelerating payment cycles.
Lower operational costs: Eliminate manual data entry, rework, and IT spend on interfaces—freeing staff to focus on growth.
Improved provider experience: Physicians order tests directly from their existing EHR workflow, minimizing frustration and errors.
Audit-ready compliance: Every order is backed by compliant, patient-specific records—reducing risk in payer audits and appeals.
The Future of Lab Operations
Reference labs that adopt both platforms position themselves not only for efficiency today, but also for resilience tomorrow as payer requirements expand and provider expectations rise. The message to clients becomes simple: working with your lab means less hassle, faster turnaround, and greater confidence in reimbursement.
Shadowbox redefines the meaning of a “lab interface” by converting what is perceived as an IT nightmare into an opportunity for growth and competitive advantage.
“Clinics using Shadowbox place orders and receive results directly to their EHR in a matter of seconds. We’ve proven that doing so creates clean and complete orders that reduce payor denials by 20% and increase net revenue by 14%.”
~Gregory Stein, Shadowbox Founder & CEO
Labs are built on expertise, but expertise alone won’t overcome the mounting administrative and compliance burdens in today’s healthcare environment. By leveraging Shadowbox and Cellarian together, reference labs can transform operational efficiency, reduce risk, and deliver a superior client experience—turning hidden inefficiencies into a strategic advantage.
