Keynote Speakers Look to the Future of the Industry

The first two keynote speakers at G2 Intelligence’s 2017 Laboratory Institute (Washington D.C.; Oct. 25-27) took a forward glance at how the laboratories can positively evolve in the coming years.

While acknowledging that current U.S. health care costs are unsustainable, Steve Shumpert, CEO of Sonic Healthcare USA and Keith Laughman, CEO of Viewics, Inc., (pictured here) both explained a future health care system where laboratories play a critical role in driving system-wide savings through unlocking value in laboratory-generated data.

The majority of the value that laboratories generate is outside of the lab. For too long, Laughman, says the emphasis has been on measuring line-item costs, like test prices, rather than measuring the total value laboratories deliver towards patient care. Laboratories see patients across the entire care continuum, including out in the community where labs have a tremendous service footprint. This data enables laboratories to play a central role in a data-driven clinical diagnostic improvement process, which positions laboratories as a strategic asset in health care systems. The core principles in unlocking the full value of laboratories involve shifting the discussion to how the practice of laboratory medicine can drive diagnostic optimization and diagnostic integration. Laboratory data can be used to increase efficiencies, drive system capacity, lead clinical improvement efforts, and inform population health efforts, making laboratories and their data a “strategic asset” in health care delivery.

Shumpert says the proliferation of new technologies will help laboratories unveil their value. For instance, continued adoption of genetic testing will guide personalized medicine and ensure that expensive, groundbreaking new therapies are optimally used. Additionally, pharmacogenomics can be used to prevent adverse drug reactions improve the efficacy of medication regimens. Full integration and improved mining of laboratory data, including longitudinal data, using artificial intelligence will enable quicker decision making and diagnosis and better prediction of care needs.

Both Shumpert and Laughman say that while challenges like payment reform do pose real strains on the industry, the laboratories have an exciting opportunity to redefine their value within the health care system. To do this, laboratories must use their data to demonstrate their system-wide value to health care payers and administrators.