Establishing benchmarks and metrics for utilization management.

The changing environment of healthcare reimbursement is rapidly leading to a renewed appreciation of the importance of utilization management in the clinical laboratory. The process of benchmarking of laboratory operations is well established for comparing organizational performance to other hospitals (peers) and for trending data over time through internal benchmarks. However, there are relatively few resources available to assist organizations in benchmarking for laboratory utilization management. This article will review the topic of laboratory benchmarking with a focus on the available literature and services to assist in managing physician requests for laboratory testing.