What is the difference between an LIS and a LIMS?

Laboratory information system (LIS) and laboratory information management system (LIMS) are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, and while the two overlap, they were designed to support different laboratory types and functionality. LIS is traditionally used to refer to systems that support healthcare clinical settings and patient-specific specimens. LIMS were historically designed to support sample-centric laboratory requirements, such as those of clinical research, or other non-clinical laboratory settings. Today, the functionality of the two systems overlaps greatly and there are many features in both the LIS and LIMS that accompany the traditional functionality of the other.