At Lab Revolution, a Call for Changing the ‘Rules of Engagement’

By Stephanie Murg, Managing Director, G2 Intelligence

Gone are the days of isolated entities and closed systems within the American healthcare industry. And as once discrete services come to extend across the continuum of care, the opportunities for laboratories outnumber the challenges—if they’re ready to adapt and evolve. This was the key theme that emerged at G2 Intelligence’s Lab Revolution conference, which took place April 7-8 at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa in Chandler, Ariz. An opening keynote address by laboratory industry veteran R. Keith Laughman kicked off the discussion of innovative business models, market drivers, and practical solutions.

“It’s time to change the rules of engagement,” said Laughman, the former president of Mayo Medical Laboratories and now managing partner of CareTinuum Consulting Partners and a principal at TRG Healthcare Consulting. “We need to move to an evidence-based approach and to view our services differently.” Value-based care requires and rewards different tactics than fee-for-service medicine does, he noted, and the lab is critical in integration—and therefore in helping health systems to thrive.

“The vast majority of benefits we generate are outside of the laboratory and exceed the cost per test,” explained Laughman. “We must stop thinking about the lab in isolation.” Instead, he advised considering how this core resource may be leveraged in new ways to create patient value, offering a list of strategies that avoid the doomed “cost-cutting to prosperity” approach.

Labs ready to expand their value proposition beyond simply providing test results have a number of options to consider, he said, including addressing health system inefficiencies, enhancing patient satisfaction, and building a network for at-risk contracting purposes. Laboratories can also help providers to work “at the top of their license” through initiatives such as providing objective review of test ordering and insight into clinical utility as well as focusing on diagnostic pathways and algorithms. “The key is to identify the true north,” said Laughman. “The lab can be the epicenter for community integration.”