A creative combination: why commercial and hospital laboratories should unite.

The trend for existing hospital laboratories to combine with their commercial counterparts is a prudent one, the author says. He recommends that hospitals continue to perform routine testing, but send the sophisticated, high-technology tests to a commercial laboratory. His advice: Several hospitals should join to own and operate the central facility in combination with a reference laboratory. He concludes with practical suggestions, guided by experience, to make this model work.