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Benchmarking and Management Metrics in Utilization Management

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Utilization Management in the Clinical Laboratory and Other Ancillary Services

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Abstract

In the current healthcare environment, clinical laboratories are under pressure to engage in continuous quality improvement projects and to decrease cost while increasing quality and safety. Controlling test utilization is a common initiative to meet these demands. Benchmarking can be a powerful tool to determine best practices related to utilization management, optimize test utilization, and monitor one’s progress. Before participating in benchmarking, laboratories need to decide what they hope to gain from this tool and how they will utilize the results. This chapter describes some available internal and external benchmarking tools that can be employed for utilization management, as well as each of their advantages and limitations. Common metrics to measure and monitor success are also outlined. The importance of a robust information technology infrastructure to assist with consistent and reliable metrics is emphasized. To conclude, the overall process of benchmarking and metrics in utilization management is summarized.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and General Internal Medicine/Primary Care, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Suite BC-03-002, Boston, MA, 02120, USA

    Ida Bixho

  2. Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Amory 2, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Stacy E. F. Melanson

Authors
  1. Ida Bixho
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  2. Stacy E. F. Melanson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stacy E. F. Melanson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Laboratory Medicine Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Kent Lewandrowski

  2. Pathology Service Core Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Patrick M. Sluss

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Bixho, I., Melanson, S.E.F. (2017). Benchmarking and Management Metrics in Utilization Management. In: Lewandrowski, K., Sluss, P. (eds) Utilization Management in the Clinical Laboratory and Other Ancillary Services. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34199-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34199-6_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-34197-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-34199-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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