• INCREASE HEALTH SYSTEM REVENUES
  • REDUCE INPATIENT LABORATORY TESTING COSTS
  • REDUCE DOWNSTREAM HEALTHCARE COSTS

Most hospital laboratories maintain significant unused capacity, resulting in higher testing costs and under-leveraged capital investments. Additionally many health systems are also experiencing laboratory cost increases of 2% to 4% annually.

Sonic Reference Laboratory is partnering with health systems who are interested in any, or all of the following:

  • Leveraging laboratory data to reduce downstream healthcare costs
  • Provide a stable, predictable, frequently lower inpatient laboratory cost structure
  • Eliminating capital investments in the laboratory
  • Enhancing health system profits through expanded outreach laboratory services
  • Improving integration of inpatient and outreach laboratory services, including electronic health records (EHR) integration
  • Providing access to Sonic's global supply and lab equipment cost structure
  • Monetizing all or a portion of outreach laboratory business to allow redeployment of capital to strategically important health system service lines
 

Current Healthcare Environment

As health systems move from a focus on inpatient care to systemic clinical integration:There is a need to improve the integration of inpatient and outreach laboratory testing services In a pay-for-performance environment, health systems need to manage costs more proactively; however, in-patient lab costs are increasing 2% to 3% annually.

  • A small percentage of costs- but guides most healthcare decisions
  • $2.46 Trillion Annual cost of healthcare in the US
  • $63.1 Billion Annual lab testing costs in the US
  • 2.3% Percentage of healthcare costs for laboratory testing
  • 2% spend on lab diagnostis, impacts 70% - 80% of healthcare decisions
  • ACOs and changing reimbursements are turning profitable lab outreach programs into cost centers
  • New and expensive esoteric tests coming into the market constantly

Impact of Lab Tests on Healthcare Delivery

Integrated laboratory data offers cost effective intervention points in the care delivery cycle Lab services are under utilized in chronic disease and population health management The data is available; however, there is a need for proactive intervention to make the data actionable Sonic Healthcare understands the pressures under which health systems must operate today. We have a long history of partnering with hospitals around the world and we know what it takes to be a great partner. For more than 20 years we have been helping health systems maximize revenue and profitability while mitigating their risk. We do this through a platform we call LabSynergy™.

This partnership takes several forms and is customizable to fit our hospital partner's varied needs and is designed to work with health systems to leverage laboratory data to reduce downstream healthcare costs. Please review the solutions page. If these issues sound familiar, Sonic Healthcare is ready to help and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss the many ways we can assist your system's laboratory in the confusing and complicated environment we see today and tomorrow.

 

Challenges

  • Typical laboratory costs are increasing by 2% to 4% per year
  • Integrating inpatient and outreach testing requires additional investment in the laboratory
  • Health systems' ongoing capital investments in laboratory equipment and infrastructure
  • Large, national labs are encroaching on local hospital outreach lab business
  • Many hospital labs are cost centers, not revenue generators
  • ACOs and changing reimbursements are turning profitable lab outreach programs into cost centers
  • New and expensive esoteric tests coming into the market constantly

Solutions

  • LabSynergy program provides a stable, predictable, frequently lower inpatient laboratory cost structure
  • Sonic Healthcare has a proven ability to quickly and efficiently integrate inpatient and outreach lab testing without a significant investment by the health system
  • Sonic Healthcare maintains programs that can eliminate a health system's ongoing capital investments in laboratory equipment and infrastructure
  • Sonic Healthcare has a proven ability to grow hospital outreach lab business
  • Through Sonic's ability to reduce overall lab costs and grow outreach revenues, we can improve profitability of the laboratory health system
  • Sonic Healthcare has eloped value added strategies to support Accountable Care Organizations
  • Sonic Healthcare has developed programs to manage and evaluate the medical necessity of expensive new esoteric tests