Total cost reduction in the laboratory: a team effort.

The laboratory has been seen as a revenue source and its product a commodity. In fact, good laboratories have always provided more of a service. As health care strives to reduce the cost of an episode of care, the laboratory may, ironically, incur additional costs to provide testing that contributes to earlier diagnosis and decreased length of stay. Laboratorians working with physicians and the institution must design processes to reduce cost through decreased utilization and improved decision making. Although materiel managers will continue to perform their traditional functions, they will become more involved in helping to select clinically relevant, cost-effective technologies through the technology assessment process. In order to evaluate new methods and equipment, laboratory expenses must be refined to include workload recording of individual tests and cost accounting of supplies, equipment, facilities and reagents.