Objective: To compare the operational and financial outcomes of the transition from shared laboratory services to a recentralized model, in a consolidated hospital system.
Setting: United Health Services Hospitals (Binghamton General, Wilson Memorial, and Ideal hospitals, New York State).
Intervention: Consolidation of hospital services and recentralization of laboratory testing to a single site (Wilson Memorial Hospital).
Main outcome measures: Laboratory workload, testing efficiency, personnel and nonpersonnel expenses, analytic error rate, turnaround time, and proficiency-testing scores.
Results: The postintervention period (1988 to 1992) was characterized by a 51% and a 10% increase in the out- and inpatient workloads, respectively, with a concomitant 24% increase in testing efficiency. The salary expenses were 26% lower, while the total true cost savings ranged from $1,544,000 (11.6%) to $2,500,000 (21.9%) compared with the shared services model. The recentralization produced decreased analytic error rates and improved testing turnaround time.
Conclusions: The total costs per test have been lowered in the recentralized model. Recentralization may provide further true cost savings over the shared services model while maintaining high-quality service.