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With changes in technology, medical practice, and market trends, and the expansion of health system services, the laboratory test menu can be ever in flux. It is essential that the laboratory test menu keeps up with trends, remaining responsive to customer needs, and may even embrace innovation to improve patient care. Consider these five steps to optimize your test menu to meet outreach customer needs.

Presented by Mayo Clinic Laboratories, "Leveraging the Laboratory: Seize Tomorrow" is an essential conference for health system executives, industry experts, and hands-on managers looking to advance their laboratory outreach programs.

In a constrained staffing environment, how can an outreach program effectively meet customer needs? Through creativity, collaboration, and shared services, there can be multiple solutions to provide the support needed by the laboratory staff and the people they serve.

When patients are tasked with collecting specimens at home, the procedure can require special timing, collection steps, or storage conditions. If these aren’t clearly communicated to the patient beforehand, it can lead to confusion and unnecessary frustration. A laboratory can set up its patients for success by managing expectations when home collections are necessary. These steps can help ensure a successful experience for both patients and laboratory staff.

The most successful laboratory outreach programs recognize the importance of serving multiple customers. From provider to patient to healthcare consumer, the laboratory has an opportunity to serve them all with high-quality results and excellent service. When aligning testing with community awareness and patient needs, the laboratory outreach program can strategically plan for future success.

With many organizations using a digital-first approach, it is easy to assume that is always the best option. But is it? And what about for your laboratory outreach program? Laboratories should consider these seven S’s when deciding whether connectivity will align with the goals of their outreach programs.

Depending on the types of specimens that are referred to the outreach laboratory, there may be an opportunity to share a customer performance update report with the client so that they can align with, or even develop their own laboratory continuous improvement initiatives. This data-sharing provides valuable metrics and allows the client an opportunity to improve their services. Through identifying issues and working together to resolve them, the customer and the laboratory are aligned in their mission of putting the needs of the patient first.

In a competitive outpatient testing market, choosing a laboratory is discretionary. With the goal of becoming the laboratory of choice for discretionary outpatient testing, it no longer matters if it is called “inreach” or “outreach.” While these terms may be decent descriptors for a process, they do not begin to describe the true value of this critical community laboratory activity. The value of a laboratory outreach program spans all areas of relevance for a health system. Through supporting clinical integration and community health initiatives, the laboratory is a critical element, enabled and supported by a successful outreach activity.

With all the preparations required to ready a clinical laboratory for regulatory inspection, it can be easy to overlook offsite testing locations, especially those performing CLIA-waived tests. Hospital laboratories with a CLIA Certificate of Compliance or Certificate of Accreditation may also oversee waived testing sites, and it is important to remember that those locations have as much potential for citations as the larger testing departments. Remember to give these five key areas special attention during inspection preparation.

Sales is a vital component of a thriving laboratory outreach program. It requires a unique skill set and a dedicated focus on advocating the value of your laboratory and its ability to deliver reliable, high-quality services to your community. A sales call — an essential sales tactic — can be the difference between a new customer and a lost opportunity, so planning for them is critical.

Patients want to use a laboratory that is easy to work with, and there are different definitions of “easy.” Ultimately, health systems want to have the patients they serve use their health system laboratories. If patients are choosing to go elsewhere, the laboratory should review and respond to several key patient experience factors.

Marketing is an essential discipline of any successful laboratory outreach program. While specific marketing goals and audiences will differ for every program, most of them will certainly involve driving awareness and growth. A strong partnership with the organization’s marketing team will allow the laboratory to capitalize on the organization’s brand, connect with customers, and generate business. For a busy laboratory, the first step in marketing is often knowing where to focus the team’s valuable resources. Here are some practical marketing strategies any outreach laboratory can apply.

This fall, healthcare professionals and laboratory outreach enthusiasts will travel to Chicago to attend Mayo Clinic's annual conference, "Leveraging the Laboratory." Outreach manager Jane Hermansen along with outreach solution strategists, Ellen Dijkman Dulkes and Brianne Newton, are excited to extend a warm welcome to fellow colleagues and peers. This year's conference will be held in the Windy City for the first time, promising an exceptional experience for all participants.