The Emergence of a Medical School: Impact on Laboratory Utilization and Cost Containment Efforts in an Affiliated Teaching Hospital

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1986

Description

During the interval of five years after the establishment of a Veterans Administration affiliated medical school, there was an impact on laboratory workload, costs, and utilization in an affiliated teaching hospital. Although the average daily census of patients and the annual number of acute care patients treated remained relatively constant or declined, the laboratory workload and costs increased 38.8% and 125.4%, respectively. The most remarkable impact resulted from a ten-fold increase in the costs of reference laboratory tests. While multidirectional interventions were not effective immediately, our study supports the value of these efforts to contain costs and to improve laboratory utilization.

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