Financial Analytics for Laboratory Stewardship: Using Data and Informatics to Increase Financial Returns for Labs and Decrease Financial Harm to Patients.

Abstract

Background: As clinical laboratories struggle to maintain their financial footing and as patients face mounting out-of-pocket expenses for diagnostic testing, being able to perform financial analysis of laboratory stewardship efforts has become an increasingly important skill.

Content: Understanding the revenue cycle as it relates to diagnostic testing is fundamental to selecting, designing, implementing, and evaluating laboratory stewardship interventions for maximum financial return. Leveraging the data and processes driving the revenue cycle can inform informatics-based interventions (such as clinical decision support) and allow deliberate financial analyses of stewardship-focused projects. For labs striving not only to ensure their own financial health but also to help their patients avoid financial toxicity, the most effective strategies often depend on developing productive partnerships with key players along the revenue cycle.

Summary: Financial laboratory analytics is an emerging skill set that can power laboratory stewardship efforts and whose benefits accrue to patients, clinicians, laboratories, and health systems.