Cayuga Medical Center: Building a world-class lab that drives revenue
Case Study
Cayuga Medical Center sought to challenge the narrative that a hospital’s lab is an expensive liability by positioning themselves as the laboratory of choice in their area.
Their challenge
Cayuga Medical Center is a not-for-profit health care provider in Ithaca, New York. They have long fought the idea that owning a lab is like shoveling money down a giant drain. Instead of selling, Cayuga decided to invest in its lab, turning it into a value center as well as a key part of patient service.
By the numbers
55
new jobs created
2x
The lab business generated over the last decade
3,500+
unique tests available to Cayuga patients through our collaboration
Their solution
Cayuga forged collaborative relationships with both larger and smaller institutions to position themselves as the laboratory of choice in their area. They partner with Mayo Clinic Laboratories for certain highly specialized lab tests, while their lab provides testing for a clinically integrated network of nearby community health care providers.
Cayuga also invested in sophisticated technologies—including MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry—to diagnose microorgansims and infectious diseases. That capability is important in Upstate New York, a rural area that also has major universities with globetrotting students and staff.
Additional laboratory investment created the outreach network that made Cayuga Medical Center the lab of choice for other local health care providers. Mayo Clinic Laboratories helped Cayuga assess its outreach capabilities and the local market. The resulting business plan included the creation of lab-service centers in communities surrounding Ithaca.
Other key elements include software that allows physicians to order tests electronically from their offices and technology to track patient samples through the network. This keeps data centralized through their IT platform, rather than fragmented through various commercial labs.
“I CAN’T OVERSTATE IT—HAVING A COMMUNITY-BASED LABORATORY IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE VALUE PROPOSITION OF CAYUGA MEDICAL CENTER. IN AN ERA OF ACCOUNTABLE CARE, HAVING THE ABILITY TO RAPIDLY AND ACCURATELY GENERATE LAB-RELATED DATA FOR PHYSICIANS IN OUR COMMUNITY, WITH DECISION SUPPORT ALONG THE WAY, IS INSTRUMENTAL.”
MARTY STALLONE, M.D., CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Their results
Lab business has doubled over the past decade, turning the lab into a profit center.
Because they have been able to compete against the national labs, Cayuga has realized remarkable growth and created more than 55 new jobs in the lab.
The community benefits from access to cutting-edge patient care and a boost to the local economy.
Owning their lab means they control costs. Cayuga’s local pathologists collaborate with Mayo physicians and experts to help manage thousands of potential lab tests that are at every clinician's fingertips, helping them make the right decisions for patients.
What's next
By being forward leaning and investing in technology, Cayuga has built a lab that can serve the community for years to come. As the transition to value-based medicine continues, they are ideally positioned to grow and remain competitive with national laboratories.
More information
To learn more about how Mayo Clinic Laboratories can help your lab become a profit center, visit Outreach or contact us by filling out the form below.
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