Laboratory services: new roles, new demands, new opportunities

ABSTRACT

Laboratories are rising to the challenge of better and cheaper care in the wake of exponential increasing in cost and variation in patterns of care that have spawned capitation and managed care. There is an increasing body of evidence that 30 to 50 percent of all tests done are unnecessary. In the current environment, we must argue against doing any test that does not demonstrably add value to care. Laboratorians are now equal partners in delivery of healthcare services and are at the table to discuss new programmes services, even new drugs; everything impacts on the laboratory! Laboratory services are being redefined by epidemiologists, cost accountants and professional managers.(AU)