NOVEMBER 12, 12:30 PM ET
With the continuous concern of reduced clinical laboratory reimbursement and medical technologist shortages, maximizing operational efficiency to reduce waste and manual labor is ever more important. Geisinger Medical Laboratories has made significant operational improvement with instrument consolidations and total laboratory automation. Detailed workflow analysis was completed to compare the pre- and post-workflow changes to highlight the effectiveness of the change. Some key improvements include decreased manual labor, enhanced space utilization, and ease of operations.
However, much should be considered prior to instrument consolidation and implementation of total laboratory automation. For example, instrument consolidation must be evaluated based on clinical appropriateness together with operational efficiency. Total laboratory automation often comes with huge upfront costs with a lengthy design and implementation phase. In addition, all specimen routing logic must be carefully programmed to optimize efficiency. Given the labor and capital investment, the potential return on investment should be critically analyzed. If done properly, instrument consolidation and laboratory automation work synergistically to streamline processes and optimize resource utilization.
Speaker:
Elsie Yu, PhD, DABCC, FADLM
Medical Laboratory Director
Geisinger Health System
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