September 27, 2019
Quest Diagnostics and hc1 have announced a strategic collaboration focused on improving costs and clinical impact of lab testing. Quest® Lab Stewardship™ powered by hc1.com® employs machine learning to harmonize laboratory testing across health systems to optimize laboratory test utilization.
Test utilization programs often require time-consuming manual uploads of data or use platforms that cannot pull from disparate enterprise systems or provide real-time test ordering guidance. Quest Lab Stewardship is designed to eliminate the limitations common to these programs. It integrates in real-time with enterprise systems and leverages hc1’s machine learning capabilities to normalize and organize lab data. This alleviates the time and effort of manual data gathering and analysis. It also provides a framework for lab directors and hospital administrators to consult with medical staff to identify areas of concern and implement compendium updates and order-prompting based on selected clinical guidelines
Approximately 70 percent of medical decisions are based on pathology and laboratory test results. Studies have shown, however, that 10 to 30 percent of the estimated 13 billion tests performed in the United States each year are either unnecessary or inappropriate. The National Academy of Medicine estimates that the healthcare system wastes around $765 billion a year, due to factors such as unnecessary or inefficiently delivered services, as well as missed prevention opportunities.
“Lab stewardship is about more than lab testing and lowering costs of over-testing. It’s really about helping health systems to use lab services efficiently to deliver appropriate care while preventing the downstream consequences from unnecessary, costly procedures,” said Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH, DLM (ASCP), Senior Medical Director, Medical Affairs, Quest Diagnostics and Chair of the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s Effective Test Utilization Subcommittee (Choosing Wisely). “We expect the Quest-hc1 solution will improve quality and care across a wide swath of the nation’s healthcare system that already refers to their advanced diagnostic services to Quest.”
For more information about Quest Lab Stewardship:
- Read the press release
- Visit www.QuestDiagnostics.com/LabStewardship
References
- Nelson, B., PhD. (2015 June). Healthcare’s main contributors to wasteful spending. The Hospitalist. https://www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/article/122351/healthcares-main-contributors-wasteful-spending
- Dickerson, J. A., Fletcher, A. H., Procop, G., et al. (2017 Sept). Transforming laboratory utilization review into laboratory stewardship: Guidelines by the PLUGS National Committee for Laboratory Stewardship. JALM. 259-268 http://jalm.aaccjnls.org/content/jalm/early/2017/07/11/jalm.2017.023606.full.pdf
