Hospitals generate enormous amounts of interrelated data – “big data” – that can yield precious insight into critical relationships between patients and the institutions that serve them.
New analytics techniques derive information from “big data” to help drive increased quality of patient care while generating solid increases in revenue. Let Ektelligen® assist you in tapping into the power of “big data”. Contact an Ektelligen® representative today!...View More
BusinessDictionary.com states that “Innovation” is “The process of translating an invention into a good or service that creates value for which customers will pay”.
This process depends upon acquiring the right mix of people, who cultivate collaborative relationships, in the context of a supportive environment.
Considered in this way, innovation in the laboratory can improve patient outcomes while driving significant increases in revenue. Let Ektelligen® assist you in creating a culture of innovation...View More
Over the past several decades, the delivery of laboratory medicine has shifted from a primarily inpatient service to a predominantly outpatient testing service. Accordingly, many hospitals have developed outreach programs to reflect these changes in the health care delivery market.
Crafting a robust outreach program requires proper strategic planning, involving input and support from administration to bench-level associates. Measures of success need to include patient-centered criteria, such as satisfaction and outcomes, as well as financial metrics, such as operating margin and billing errors.
Let Ektelligen® partner with you to create a robust outreach component to your overall service delivery...View More
CPI is a well-designed, ongoing, iterative program of incremental improvements in business processes. In health care, we practice CPI to deliver superb patient-centric care while remaining fiscally responsible.
A well-crafted CPI program requires buy-in at all administrative levels, as well as cross-functional teams designed to achieve the qualitative and quantitative goals of the initiative. A set of problem-solving tools, such as DMAIC, enables the team to identify goals, examine processes, and address challenges along the way.
Let Ektelligen® assist you in crafting or reinvigorating your CPI initiative. Contact an Extelligen ® representative today!...View More
It is imperative that clinical labs have a robust risk management program, as part of an overall Quality Control plan. It is not only mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but readily-available data about an institution’s adverse events can enhance – or ruin – it’s reputation.
A clinical lab must be intimately familiar with it’s processes and the associated risks in carrying out those processes. Measures to mitigate those risks must be clearly delineated.
A well-developed Risk Management program discloses hidden risks to patients and associates, while fostering trust and transparency.
Let Ektelligen® partner with you in crafting a strong, effective Risk Management program. Contact an Ektelligen® representative today!...View More
Appropriate staffing is crucial to a lab’s success. Rather than staffing according to a “gut feel”, it is better to apply a quantitative, need-based approach which will be appropriate to natural trends and cycles of workloads.
Optimal staffing depends upon factors unique to each lab, such as institution size, services offered, time handling specimens, peripheral duties/responsibilities, vacation time and leave policies.
Ektelligen® can help you create an effective staffing strategy. Using our proprietary staffing model, we can assist you in crafting a need-based staffing scheme which will easily accommodate the needs of your lab. Contact an Ektelligen® representative today!...View More
Benchmarking is a continuous comparison of an institution’s processes against those of a recognized, external, best-in-class institution. The goal is to glean applicable insights which may be leveraged to improve patient care and satisfaction.
Additional benefits may include lower operational expenses, maximizing the utility of staff, and the ability to set realistic service and/or growth goals.
By partnering with Ektelligen®, we can assist you in identifying relevant benchmarking criteria, and help you adapt best-in-class insights to you laboratory operations. Contact an Ektelligen® representative today!...View More
The timely, clinically appropriate use of laboratory tests is a singular challenge in laboratory medicine. The Directory of Services of a large hospital or commercial laboratory lists hundreds of tests, placing a dizzying array of diagnostic tools at the disposal of the clinician. And often, the clinician is left without clear guidance in the utility of many of these tests – or worse yet, is confronted by aggressive marketing by the manufacturers of newer, faster testing procedures and analytes.
While underutilization of tests can miss important diagnostic markers, overutilization drives health care costs ever-higher. More importantly, it must be borne in mind that, even in individuals with no clinical symptoms indicative of a disease, using lab tests to simply "rule out" this – or – that condition can still produce test results in a critical range. This in turn can lead to further patient mismanagement and unnecessarily drive testing costs to exorbitant levels....View More
Compliance is the clinical lab’s ongoing resolve to perform medical testing according to stipulations by multiple governmental agencies.1 Over time, the process has become more complicated and consequently more stringent, as the body of test types grows, reimbursement schemes evolve, and laws governing lab safety issues are updated to be more inclusive and clear. Indeed, comprehensive, up-to-date regulatory compliance in the clinical lab is a daunting challenge.
The purpose of enforcing compliance standards include the establishment of standard operating procedures, a system to monitor compliance, the establishment of associate performance standards, and a system to monitor variances and deficiencies, including documentation of corrective actions.....View More