Tips for thriving in the age of diversified laboratory testing

Over the past 10 years, the availability and uptake of near-patient testing, known more commonly as point-of-care testing (POCT), has increased exponentially. Opting to manage POCT in an overall framework for diversified testing is an opportunity rather than a threat for progressive laboratories. This transformation is essential to effective clinical care provision. It will also cement the laboratory service as a key stakeholder within an increasingly connected, patient-centred healthcare environment.

Diagnostic laboratory services are no longer solely provided just from one laboratory, but are also delivered across a range of places by many healthcare professionals using various pieces of equipment. The options for patients to test themselves at home are now common. The latest range of smartphone-enabled snap-on devices have transformed testing, so it is affordable and easy to use. However, this introduces data governance issues that separate medical-grade data from patient-generated therapeutic and wellbeing data.

Health and care decisions remain reliant on accurate and timely data provision to the care provider. This diversification of the provision of laboratory test results necessitates an urgent redesign of the service, a rethinking of the ownership and accountability model, and a clear understanding of the relevance of this data in the clinical process. Having data is a by-product of all business; however, transforming data into a three-dimensional information model that enhances patient outcomes requires an integrated approach, one that must span the health, care and patient continuum with an appropriate information architecture to support the new ‘norm’ in the emerging healthcare market.