Aug 2, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Agreements to open PSCs in the nation’s largest retail grocery and pharmacy chain stores shows a willingness by clinical laboratories to attract customers through convenience
Greater use of retail stores as the location for patient services centers (PSCs) may be an important new trend for the clinical laboratory industry. That’s because, historically, medical laboratories placed most of their patient service centers in hospital campuses or near medical office buildings.
However, in recent months, both of the nation’s billion-dollar lab companies signed deals with national retailers to put patient service centers in their stores. Dark Daily believes that the motivation for a lab company to put a PSC into a grocery store or retail pharmacy is to make it easier and more convenient for a patient to get their specimen collected at a location that is closer to their home or office. In other words, it is faster for the patient to get to their nearest grocery store for a blood draw than to travel to the hospital campus in their community.
Various news reports indicate that Quest Diagnostics (Quest) may be more active than Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) in opening PSCs in grocery stores and retail pharmacies. Over the last four months, Quest has announced plans to open patient services centers with several retailers, particularly in the states of Texas and Florida. Similarly, in the past four weeks, LabCorp disclosed an agreement with Walgreens Boots Alliance (Walgreens).
Ground zero for this current interest in putting PSCs into retail stories is Phoenix, Arizona. In 2014, to serve its direct-to-consumer lab testing business model, Theranos had PSCs in about 40 Walgreen’s pharmacies. Pathologists and clinical laboratories will recall that in November, 2015, Sonora Quest Laboratories of Phoenix opened a patient service center (PSC) in a Scottsdale, Ariz., supermarket owned by Safeway. It was the first PSC Sonora Quest had opened in collaboration with a grocery store chain, but it was not the last. Less than a year later, Sonora Quest and Safeway expanded their operations by opening additional PSCs in stores throughout the Grand Canyon State.
At the same time Sonora Quest was stepping into the retail blood-drawing business, Theranos of Palo Alto, Calif., was exiting it after opening 40 PSCs in Walgreens pharmacies, most of them in Arizona. However, before leaving the lab-testing business altogether, the embattled company put a lot of effort into educating consumers about the benefits of purchasing lab tests without a physician’s order. Theranos had even supported a bill (HB2645) the Arizona State Legislature passed that allowed patients to order tests without a physician’s requisition.
Now, in 2017, Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) appears interested in following a similar strategy as Theranos and Sonora Quest by developing Quest-branded PSCs in retail chain stores. On its website, Quest states that in the past several years it has opened 106 PSCs in Albertsons, Randalls, Safeway, Tom Thumb, and Vons retail stores in nine states.
Quest Moves to Open PSCs Across America
Quest has PSCs in the following states:
- California (12 stores);
- Colorado (27);
- Delaware (1);
- Maryland (9);
- Montana (4);
- Oregon (10);
- Texas (26);
- Virginia (7); and
- Washington State (10).
This Quest patient service center operates within a Safeway store location. (Photo copyright: Quest Diagnostics.)
In June 2017, Quest announced it would open 10 additional PSCs in Tom Thumb retail stores in North Texas by the end of the month. Thom Thumb is a division of Albertsons, a food and drug retailer with stores nationwide. In the same announcement, Quest said it plans to open PSCs in 200 Albertson’s-owned stores nationwide by the end of the year.
Give Blood Then Shop
Also in June, Quest and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) announced a deal in which the two companies would open co-branded PSCs in 15 Walmart stores in Florida and Texas by the end of 2017.
In these locations, Quest encourages patients to have their blood drawn and then shop. Such locations can accommodate collecting specimens for routine blood work, such as total cholesterol and white blood cell count, as well as complex gene-based and molecular testing. Even patients with such chronic conditions as cancer, diabetes, and hepatitis, are encouraged to use these PSCs, the lab-testing company stated in the announcement.
Not to be outdone, LabCorp also announced a deal with Walgreens in June. In Forbes, Bruce Japsen reported that Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) announced it would collaborate with LabCorp (NYSE:LH) to develop and operate PSCs in Walgreens drugstores in Colorado, Illinois, and North Carolina.
The deal is the first for Walgreens since its troubled relationship with Theranos ended last year. Walgreens’ collaboration with LabCorp will initially begin this summer with five patient service centers in Denver and one in Morrisville, N.C. A seventh location in Deerfield, Ill., will open by the end of the year. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
Lessons Clinical Laboratories Learned with PSCs in Retail Stores
For Quest, the speed with which it is opening new PSCs is significant, because it seems to have taken lessons that Theranos and Sonora Quest learned earlier in Ariz. and applied them to markets nationwide. It’s worth noting that Safeway and Albertsons were already two of the largest retail grocery chains in the nation before they merged in 2015.
So, while Sonora Quest was working with Safeway, its parent company, Quest, was working with Albertsons.
One other point that is significant about Quest’s efforts is that not many other clinical laboratories have a presence in retail stores. It’s unknown just how much specimen volume these retail operations generate for Quest, one of the largest clinical lab companies in America. And, it is unknown if these PSCs in retail settings are breaking even or making a profit.
One result, however, is clear. That Quest is being so aggressive in opening PSCs testifies to the company’s level of interest in serving consumers directly. In other words, these PSCs are not primarily a direct-to-consumer play, but are aimed at building market share by adding regular lab testing done for patients. In this way, the direct-to-consumer business that Quest generates is a bonus.
The deals by Quest and LabCorp also imply that both clinical laboratory companies are willing to bet on the fact that consumers may prefer the convenience of using PSCs located in retail stores they currently frequent, rather than going to patient service centers in hospitals and sitting in a waiting rooms.
—Joseph Burns
Related Information:
Quest Diagnostics and Walmart Team Up to Expand Access to Healthcare Services
Walgreens Partners with LabCorp in New Diagnostic Testing Deal
Walgreens to Roll Out Urine, Blood Testing at Some Stores
Walgreens Partners with LabCorp on In-Store Lab Testing Services
Walmart and Quest Team Up for Lab Services
Quest’s Lab Services in New, Convenient Locations
You Can Now Get Lab Tests Done at Safeway Stores – from Theranos’ Rival
Jul 31, 2017 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Sonora Quest Labs and Incyte Diagnostics streamline operations, eliminate data silos, and increase efficiencies using real-time analytics from laboratory-specific CRM
Across the nation, clinical laboratories and anatomic pathologists face two common challenges. One is shrinking lab budgets and less payment for lab tests. The other is the need to maintain physician and patient services at a high level. Both factors are fueling greater interest in lab and healthcare-specific customer relationship management (CRM).
Stated another way, labs and pathology groups are being squeezed by the need to operate on less revenue, while also increasing their quality of customer service to retain existing clients and expand market share. CRMs are a proven way to achieve and sustain superior levels of customer service in a surprisingly cost-effective way. In fact, many labs that implement a CRM find that the return on investment comes swiftly, in just a few months.
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups Hit by Declining Prices, Revenues
“The clinical lab industry is solidly in an era where payers are slashing the prices they pay for lab tests and hospitals—struggling with their own financial problems—are cutting their lab budgets,” observed Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report, “These factors are motivating lab administrators and pathologists to look for solutions that allow them to run their lab at less cost, while improving staff productivity and customer service.
“This is why first-mover and early-adopter medical labs saw the potential of real-time analytical middleware and lab-specific CRM solutions to help them meet the challenge of running their labs on less money, while simultaneously sustaining superior levels of customer service,” continued Michel. “Every lab manager knows that the path to improved profitability is blocked by poor workflows, time-consuming quality metrics processes, and disconnected sales and customer service teams.”
Innovative medical laboratory managers report that their investment in laboratory-specific CRM systems (also known as healthcare-specific CRM) suddenly gives them access to data that has been locked away within their legacy LIS and other software systems. By unlocking this data in real-time dashboards and reports, they gain competitive advantage in the lab testing marketplace. A healthcare-specific CRM makes it possible to monitor a wide range of activities, including:
- Proactively tracking relations with client physicians;
- Monitoring workflow and lab operations in real time; and
- Gaining a comprehensive view of all sales and customer service activities at both the aggregate and provider levels.
Tracking Key Benchmarks, Productivity, and Accountability
Sonora Quest Laboratories (SQL) of Tempe, Ariz., a joint venture between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics (NASDAQ:DGX), wanted to reduce the amount of time spent collating reports and performing manual calculations, as well as breaking down cumbersome data silos across the organization in order to streamline communication and collaboration.
Prior to activating a laboratory-specific CRM platform, employees at SQL spent five hours per day pulling key metrics and reports. To move forward with strategic initiatives, the company could not continue to “struggle with endless silos of data and information,” a case study on SQL’s challenges states.
CRM Designed for Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups
To address these concerns, SQL turned to a laboratory-specific CRM that integrates existing silos and systems into a centralized interface through automated data capturing. The solution provides detailed, real-time dashboards with visibility across the organization. Graphs and charts enable users to:
- Track their progress meeting turnaround time benchmarks;
- Ensure their volume is level-loaded; and
- Track by the hour how many tests are coming in and completed, the case study notes.
The hc1 customer-relationship management (CRM) dashboard (above) provides an easy-to-navigate interface for tracking multiple benchmarks and key workflows for clinical laboratories and healthcare providers. (Image copyright: hc1.)
“The first step was to integrate our LIS [laboratory information system], and our timekeeping, call center metrics, and bench scheduling tools, into the hc1 CRM solution we had installed,” stated Tamara Nelson, Lean Master Black Belt at SQL. “Once that was accomplished, we could build actionable reports to determine where to focus our process improvement efforts.
“Now we can look at high-level trends in lab productivity,” noted Nelson. “We can also drill down to look at every process in our lab by hour, shift, discipline, instrument, and employee to compare time periods and other factors.”
According to the case study about Sonora Quest Laboratories, after its activation of the healthcare CRM, SQL reduced time spent pulling daily performance reports from about five hours per day to just 45 minutes a day. This increased overall employee efficiency by 85%.
SQL’s use of the CRM now makes it possible to:
- Provide real-time financial and operation trend analysis to key stakeholders;
- Use live dashboard and reports to review and manage TAT (turn-around time) benchmarks, utilization, reimbursements, volume, and productivity;
- Track employee productivity across departments to drive accountability; and
- Broadcast reports to immediately notify key stakeholders of any risks, missed benchmarks, or red flags.
Better Way for Clinical Laboratories to Track Client Interactions
Another medical laboratory that benefitted from implementing a laboratory-specific CRM is Incyte Diagnostics of Spokane Valley, Washington. Founded in 1957 by pathologists, Incyte provides anatomic pathology services throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Incyte needed a way to consolidate data coming from the multiple systems used to manage its sales process and payer information. The different systems created a disconnect between departments and, as structured, could only deliver a few real-time insights into volume or revenue shifts, client account activity, marketing campaigns, or sales activities.
Having received 35,000 e-mails from his sales team during the previous two years, Incyte’s Chief Marketing Officer Nate Koenig knew he had to find a better way to track client interactions.
“We needed a better understanding of what was taking place within our clients’ hospitals. To grow, we had to improve. That’s where the CRM solution we selected proved invaluable,” stated Koenig in a case study detailing how Incyte found a solution to tedious workflows and disorganized information tracking.
After adopting a healthcare CRM, Incyte could:
- Help sales reps gain more field time;
- Centralize client information;
- Track sales activities;
- Properly store data; and
- Gain access to real-time analytics.
Anatomic Pathology Lab Exceeded Production Goals and Customer Expectations
According to the case study, by eliminating data silos and streamlining sales operations Incyte was able to:
- Exceed its sales growth goal in 2016 by 107%;
- Retain 99.51% of current business;
- Reduce the overall workload of the client services team 6.25%; and
- Gain 32 additional days of field time for its 17 sales reps.
Both Sonora Quest Laboratories and Incyte, Inc., are examples of how innovative medical laboratories are using informatics to meet the challenges of declining revenue and the need to sustain a high level of customer service. In today’s connected world, those labs that are first to achieve useful integration of their LIS with a CRM will enjoy competitive advantage.
Surviving in this challenging environment means clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups must unlock the power of data informatics to improve their financial performance and better serve providers and patients. To help laboratory leaders reach these goals, The Dark Report recently published a white paper titled, “3 Critical Rules for Surviving in 2017: Your Medical Laboratory’s Guide to Thriving in Today’s Healthcare Landscape.”
This essential resource demonstrates how a laboratory-specific CRM enables medical laboratories to not just survive, but to thrive in today’s healthcare environment, while providing added value to healthcare consumers and providers.
Get your copy of this important asset by clicking on this link. Or, copy this URL into your browser: https://ddaily.wpengine.com/whitepaper/3-critical-rules-for-surviving-in-2017-your-medical-laboratorys-guide-to-thriving-in-todays-healthcare-landscape.
—Andrea Downing Peck
Related Information:
3 Critical Rules for Surviving in 2017: Your Medical Laboratory’s Guide to Surviving in Today’s Healthcare Landscape
How Incyte Dx Eliminated Data Silos and Streamlined Operations to Exceed Sales Growth Targets by 107%
How Sonora Quest Labs Eliminated 4 Hours a Day in Performance Report Work
Clinical Laboratories Turn to Healthcare-Focused CRM to Optimize Operations and Increase Market Share, Despite Decreasing Reimbursement
More Clinical Pathology Laboratories Use Middleware for Business Intelligence and Lab-specific Customer Relationship Management
Nov 23, 2016 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
With more medical laboratories making progress on improving the operational performance of their labs, and the level of service they provide to their clients, they are finding it essential to have real-time analytics and healthcare relationship management systems
In today’s world of clinical laboratory medicine, the pace of daily operations continues to increase. Everything happens faster as the nation’s leading medical laboratories apply Lean and other process improvement methods to speed up workflow with the goal of shortening lab test turnaround times.
However, those labs making progress on doing more faster and in less time have a challenge: they require information systems and software that can feed essential information to lab managers and staff in real time. It is for this reason that some of the best-selling informatics products in the clinical laboratory industry these days are middleware solutions and healthcare relationship management (HRM) solutions that support real-time analytics and help medical labs improve their client service.
In the past, clinical laboratories and pathology groups often developed in-house solutions to help manage data and generate reports. While data in these systems often drove diagnostic decisions, with the pace of technological change and demands for reduced turnaround times (TATs), these systems often struggled to provide: (more…)
Sep 30, 2016 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Test ordering and results interpretation can confuse the public says Dartmouth Institute, which is why some clinical laboratories limit the types of lab tests that people can request
Giving consumers direct access to medical laboratory testing continues to be a subject of some controversy. One factor in this debate is Theranos, which brought much attention to direct access testing, followed by extensive news coverage in recent months of its problems with reporting accurate clinical laboratory test results.
Concerns about allowing consumers to have direct access to lab testing were the subject of a recent National Public Radio (NPR) Shots Health News story. Several medical experts were interviewed and described why they had concerns about direct access testing (DAT).
One such expert is H. Gilbert Welch, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Community and Family Medicine at The Dartmouth Institute (Dartmouth). According to Welch, DAT could contribute to over-diagnosis and give people an inaccurate impression of what good health actually means. (more…)
Nov 6, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Nation’s largest gathering of clinical laboratory Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement practitioners took place in New Orleans this week
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—More than 300 of the nation’s leading quality improvement practitioners in clinical laboratory operations came together this week to share, learn, and master the best approaches to improving the quality of medical laboratory operations in ways that improve performance and productivity even while delivering substantial reductions in cost.
The opening session of the Ninth Annual Laboratory Quality Confab featured three clinical laboratories that have aggressively used quality management methods, including Lean and Six Sigma. These are labs that are strategically committed to creating and sustaining a culture of quality and continuous process improvement. (more…)
