[Reducing unnecessary laboratory use through education and regulation].

Elimination of unnecessary laboratory use is becoming more and more important in the control of the rapid growth of medical costs in Japan. Among several measures to reduce unnecessary laboratory use, advising doctors about rational use of clinical laboratory is effective but not sufficient. At Tokyo University Hospital we have established a system to reduce unnecessary laboratory use. In this system warning about excessive use of laboratory tests appears on the display when a doctor orders more laboratory tests by the console than the maximum number of tests covered by health insurance. With this warning system we can effectively minimize unnecessary use of laboratory tests.