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Sandy Richman, MBA, C(ASCP), director of ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services, is among ARUP experts who contributed to a newly published article in Academic Pathology that adds to the understanding of what constitutes a successful laboratory stewardship program.
Successful laboratory stewardship programs benefit when overseen by multidisciplinary teams that have the support of hospital leadership along with ample information technology resources to access data and implement interventions.
Such is the finding of a survey of laboratory professionals conducted by experts at ARUP Laboratories who sought to help define some evidence-based best practices for establishing successful laboratory stewardship programs.
The survey’s results are summarized in a newly published article in the journal Academic Pathology. The article, “Current state of laboratory test utilization practices in the clinical laboratory,” also notes significant variety in the duration and scale of stewardship programs. “The breadth of practices in use suggests the need for customization, both to the institution and the test(s) being targeted.”
Grace Kroner, PhD, a former ARUP clinical chemistry fellow who is now on staff at Cleveland Clinic, led the effort and is the article’s lead author. Contributing authors include Sandy Richman, MBA, C(ASCP), director of ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services; Brian Jackson, MD, MS, medical director of Support Services, IT, and Business Development; Andrew Fletcher, MD, MBA, former medical director of ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services and now president of eutilogic consulting; and Jane Dickerson, PhD, division head of Laboratory Medicine and director of Core Lab and Reference Lab Services at Seattle Children's Hospital.
The authors say that conscientious laboratory stewardship is more important than ever, given the rising cost of healthcare and heightened efforts by hospitals and health systems to gain efficiencies. Although at least two laboratory organizations have published test utilization management program guidelines, the authors saw an opportunity to lend to the understanding of best practices by sharing information about stewardship efforts currently in use and which factors contribute to their success.
Using a survey designed and distributed by Julie Tucker-Kranendock, ARUP product manager for analytics, and Leslie Smith, ARUP senior market research analyst, the authors polled 74 eligible respondents between November 2019 and February 2020. Read more about their findings here.
In addition, more information about ARUP’s laboratory stewardship consulting services and other offerings available through ARUP Healthcare Advisory Services is available here.
Lisa Carricaburu, lisa.carricaburu@aruplab.com
