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Managing Test Utilization

Improves Laboratory Performance

Raw data collected and analyzed from a system for Leading examples of excessive testing, for instance,
decision-making outcomes is the key to increasing include simultaneously ordering cardiac markers troponin
laboratory performance efficacy. In return, labs have and creatine-kinase myoglobin (CK-MB). Repeat HbA1c
the opportunity to improve revenue cash flow without testing falls under the testing guideline at twenty-one
compromising the patient’s medical care. The American days for patients with long-term glucose levels.
Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the American
Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) defined the goals as Analyzing the data collected will aid laboratory
the right test, right patient, at the right cost. Managers will managers to identify the area in need of corrective
need to overcome two obstacles: over- and underutilized actions to reduce testing redundancy and establish
testing. There are laboratories still lacking an automated performance targeted markers such as:
process and have to rely on IT staff to manually extract
and compile reporting data from mixed formats. • Number of tests per inpatient admission
The painstaking task of manually processing data • Length of stay
becomes a burden for the IT staff to handle, in an • Length of stay versus tests per admission
already hectic department. However, an automated
method to extract data from an analytical system can
take cumulative data and pinpoint unnecessary testing
in a matter of minutes.

Unnecessary testing commonly refers to a test that is
used for screening, diagnosis, reflex testing, or patient
monitoring. Assuming a patient’s thyroid-stimulating
hormone (TSH) is normal, there is no need to order
a test for free thyroxine (FT4). If the TSH was abnormal,
then testing for FT4 would be an appropriate reflex test.

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