Improving quality, containing costs, and delivering value are now the key drivers of change in healthcare delivery. Other important forces influencing the field include a shift to a patient-centered focus, value-based rather than volume-based reimbursement models, and greater emphasis on safety.
What does this mean for the clinical laboratory field? How can laboratory testing contribute to the triple aim of improved patient experience, enhanced population health, and reduced costs?
The President's Invited Session: Leveraging the Laboratory Medicine Value Proposition: Demonstrating the Value of the Laboratory as an Integral Part of the Healthcare Team (32217) on August 1 at the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo will highlight the value of laboratory medicine through its impact on clinical, resource, and financial decisions.
Speaker Christopher Price, PhD, of the University of Oxford, will discuss value propositions in laboratory medicine, while Robert Christenson, PhD, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will instruct attendees on how to demonstrate the value of laboratory medicine.
AACC President Patricia M. Jones, PhD, DABCC, FACB, of Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, told CLN Stat she asked Price to participate after he chaired a meeting at last year’s EuroMedLab conference. That meeting began an international effort to promote the value of laboratory medicine as an integral and necessary part of the healthcare team. Meanwhile, she said, she and Christensen have been involved in this effort for a while, “so it seemed very natural to ask Chris and Rob to talk about this important topic.”
The topic is extremely timely, given decreasing and capitated reimbursement. With that, she said, “The laboratory needs to be a visible and integral part of the healthcare team. Our contribution to patient health must be understood, promoted, and incorporated into the patient care workflow.”
In addition, she said, “As laboratory professionals, we need to understand that one of our roles must be to demonstrate our intrinsic value as part of the healthcare team, well beyond the siloed laboratory.”
Jones said she hopes that attendees will come away from this session with ideas and plans for moving toward that goal. “Or, if they’ve already started, how they can further increase the value of their lab in patient care.”