The Value of the Laboratory: Invest or Outsource?


 

The impact of national healthcare reform, is putting pressure on the healthcare industry to navigate reductions in reimbursement, implement cost-cutting initiatives and improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Changing the way healthcare is delivered and paid for is the new imperative.

Laboratories, now more than ever before, have a unique opportunity to substantially impact both short and long term sustainability of healthcare organizations. However, labs that continue to just produce lab test results will be viewed as a commodity and will likely be outsourced or sold. Some organizations are selling laboratory and outreach operations to private equity firms, joint venture capitalists or national laboratories in exchange for an immediate and significant infusion of cash. It follows that laboratories failing to demonstrate value to the organization face an uncertain future.

This presentation will inform attendees of the industry trends that are influencing these decisions, the risks laboratories face and what labs can do to demonstrate value in tangible ways.

Originally presented on April 30, 2015, in Salt Lake City, Utah.


Lecture Presenter

Suzanne Carasso, MBA, MT (ASCP)

Suzanne Carasso, MBA, MT (ASCP)

Director, Business Solutions Consulting
ARUP Laboratories

Ms. Carasso, the director of Business Solutions Consulting at ARUP, is a medical technologist and business professional with more than 25 years of technical and management experience in the healthcare industry, with a primary focus market analysis, operations improvement, and business planning for hospital laboratories and health systems. She is responsible for working with ARUP clients to develop laboratory business services or enhance existing business units. To date, she has worked with more than 30 hospitals and health systems to analyze market opportunity and develop business plans designed to inform and engage executive leaders and secure capital investment for laboratory business operations. Ms. Carasso received a bachelor of science in medical technology from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Science and her master of business administration from the University of Colorado at Denver.


Objectives

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

  • Discuss the state of healthcare in the U.S.
  • Understand trends driving interest in outsourcing
  • Identify various laboratory models
  • Evaluate benefits and risks of outsourcing laboratory services
  • Identify the lab's most important asset
  • Leverage this asset to demonstrate lab value, contain cost, and improve outcomes
  • Define the steps to develop a laboratory value proposition
  • Communicate your lab's value

Sponsored by:

University of Utah School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, and ARUP Laboratories