Hamilton Health Sciences Laboratory Program: a provider developed model for hospital, university and community laboratory services.

Clinical Laboratory Sciences are under pressure to reduce the number of tests and cut staff and supply costs. The ability of academic centres to continue to deliver high quality service, teaching and research is threatened. In difficult economic times imaginative strategies are needed to look for solutions which will permit continued advancement in academic and clinical standards. Rationalization of service and cost-effective use of resources are not new concepts; however, there is a scarcity of models which have been developed and promoted by the providers of laboratory services, rather than those imposed by governments and other paying agencies. A model developed and evolved over the last two decades by The Hamilton Health Sciences Laboratory Program (HHSLP) is outlined.