Undiagnosed disease places an additional burden on already-stretched health systems and on an individual patient’s health. Earlier disease identification and treatment can:^3,4

• Increase primary care appointments
• Reduce visits to emergency departments
• Lower overall healthcare costs

The lack of disease awareness and access to appropriate treatment can impact timely treatment and lead to further disease spread, high morbidity and mortality. Laboratories are supporting earlier detection of disease, in areas such as improved linkage to care.

To increase identification of undiagnosed patients and connection to care, the University of Alabama has rolled out an opt-out program, where emergency department patients are tested for HCV and HIV and guided to appropriate clinical pathways unless they specifically opt-out.

Worldwide, laboratories and health systems are struggling to attract and retain medical technologists.

• 7% expected increase in demand for laboratory technologists in US⁶
• Just 3% of laboratories in the UK are sufficiently staffed to meet needs⁷
• Retirement rates incresed from 9% in 2012 to 17% in 2018⁸

In an attempt to address these staffing challenges, many systems are paying high levels of overtime costs, hiring contractors and outsourcing work, resulting in higher costs to meet the testing service needs of their clinicians. Abbott is partnering with laboratories to progress performance management, optimising existing staff operations and mitigating unnecessary additional costs.

Diagnostic testing volumes are growing across the globe, driven by aging populations and rising prevalence of chronic illness. These demographic trends, when combined with changing care models and reimbursement changes, are causing significant budget challenges:

• In the UK, the underlying deficit in hospital trusts reached £5bn in 2018⁹
• In the Netherlands, top hospitals are achieving operation margins of just 1.8%¹⁰
• The US Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) aims to reduce laboratory spending by 15% year-on-year¹¹ 

Laboratories are utilizing Abbott’s end to end solution to drive cost reductions across the health system by reducing operating expenditures.

Abbott is collaborating with laboratories to reduce expenditure by optimizing and automating workflows.