Chapter 45 : Benchmarking for Your Laboratory: What's Appropriate?

Abstract:

The general approaches needed to decide on a strategy for the laboratory are applicable to the major types of benchmarking: finances, quality, and productivity. In this chapter the assumption will be that, although there may be regulatory requirements for many activities, there is sufficient value to make the tasks worthwhile in their own right. Technical as well as medical sophistication must also be considered. With appropriate information technology- and the expertise to take advantage of it-analysis of laboratory utilization may achieve great depth. This exercise is sometimes referred to as data mining. The data needed for financial analysis will also cover productivity analysis in most cases. Thus, the comments will usually apply to both activities, although it is possible that sufficient information is available in a human resources department to make up for holes in a financial department. If both internal and external benchmarking methods are employed, the two approaches can sometimes be used as a check on each other. It is often possible to enrich the interpretation of benchmarking data by evaluating the interplay among parameters.