Tag Archives: Test utilization (see also Screening tests)

April 2021—Urinary tract infections and Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile testing are the topics of two of the modules released recently in the CAP Test Ordering Program. The Laboratory Workup for Urinary Tract Infections module became available online in January, and C. difficile Testing in October 2020 (www.cap.org/member-resources/test-ordering-program). The program is free to CAP members.

February 2021—Variants and vaccines were in the news when Compass Group members spoke with CAP TODAY publisher Bob McGonnagle for the first time in the new year, on Jan. 5. “This is something we all need to stay close to,” Julie Hess, of AdventHealth, said of the variants. “We need to know if it’s going to impact our ability to detect.” With McGonnagle and Hess on the Jan. 5 call were Dwayne Breining, MD, and James Crawford, MD, PhD, Northwell; John Waugh, MS, MT(ASCP), Henry Ford; Stan Schofield, MaineHealth; Gregory Sossaman, MD, Ochsner; Peter Dysert, MD, Baylor Scott & White; Steven Carroll, MD, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina; Heather Dawson, Allina; Janet Durham, MD, ACL; Daniel Ingemansen, Sanford Health; Ericka Olgaard, DO, MBA, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Sterling Bennett, MD, MS, Intermountain; and Judy Lyzak, MD, MBA, Alverno.

January 2021—Wrestling with rapid test shortfalls and with open laboratory positions. Expecting the post-holiday surge, frustrated by federal level disconnect. That is what Compass Group members were doing and feeling on Dec. 1 last year, when they gathered on Zoom for another conversation about COVID-19.

May 2020—Like a top 40 radio hit, test utilization is a topic that can sometimes seem to be overplayed. But the COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp relief its importance. “What we’ve seen is organizations that have more mature test utilization efforts in place may be better able to handle these crises,” says Peter L. Perrotta, MD, professor and chair of pathology, anatomy, and laboratory medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine and director of pathology services, West Virginia University Health System.

January 2020—Pathologist Ron B. Schifman, MD, practices what he preaches and preaches about what others practice relative to implementing such computer-based test-utilization management techniques as soft stops, hard stops, and those that fall in between. In a 2019 American Association of Clinical Chemistry presentation on strategies and tactics for test-utilization management, and in an interview with CAP TODAY, Dr. Schifman offered insights into a variety of information technology-based interventions.

April 2014—As reimbursement models change, achieving better test utilization will become a survival strategy. And in the hard work to improve test use, the computerized physician order-entry system appears to be the work tool with the winning record. Inpatient laboratory tests at Massachusetts General Hospital fell by 21 percent between 2002 and 2007, despite a seven percent increase in the number of discharges. Per discharge, inpatient tests dropped by 26 percent (Kim JY, et al. Am J Clin Pathol. 2011;135:108–118). Kent B. Lewandrowski, MD, associate chief of pathology and director of laboratory and molecular medicine at MGH and professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, calls the number of inpatient tests per discharge “a global benchmark,” saying, “It rolls up all of our individual utilization initiatives.”

July 2013—When it comes to laboratory test orders, the connection between bloodletting and financially draining an institution is more than metaphorical. But a wide range of techniques can help stem test overutilization, clinical laboratory experts have found; you don’t have to drive a stake through a vampire’s heart to stanch the flow.

June 2013—It might be a legacy of the economic downturn. Perhaps it is the prospect of increased capitation under health care reform. Or it could be the stunning price tags of some new tests on the clinical laboratory test menu. Whatever the cause, health systems across the country are increasingly moving beyond education and retrospective review to more specific, targeted, prospective controls on test utilization.