With the changing landscape of healthcare, clinical laboratories are under immense pressure to deliver high quality, complex results despite poor payment and reimbursement rates that often do not cover the cost of performing the tests. As a cost-savings measure, some institutions are using LEAN approaches and consolidation efforts to maximize efficiency and enable sharing of resources across molecular specialties. The advantages and disadvantages of centralized versus decentralized molecular laboratories will be explored in this session.
Centralized Testing in Molecular Pathology via Lean Laboratory Design
John Longshore, PhD, Carolinas Pathology Group, Charlotte, NC, USA
Molecular Laboratory Organization: the University of Washington Experience
Daniel E. Sabath, MD, PhD, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
Objectives:
- Describe differing needs of various types of molecular testing.
- Define key areas where streamlining molecular testing is beneficial to patient care and how the LEAN approach can be applied to improve the molecular lab.
- Discuss the implications for future molecular diagnostic laboratory needs.
Duration: 1.25 hr
Recording Date: November 8, 2019
CME/CMLE credit: 1.25 hr
Last day to purchase course and CE claim credit: December 24, 2022
