SALT LAKE CITY, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- ARUP Laboratories, a national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory and a leader in innovative laboratory research and development, announced today that it has enhanced its ATOP(R) program (Analyzing Test Ordering Patterns(TM)) as an integral part of its Suite of Integrated Services. ARUP’s ATOP program is a laboratory analytics service offered to assist health care organizations in improving utilization of their laboratory tests. Its analysis identifies potential over-, under-, and mis-utilization of individual laboratory tests and in each case assesses the clinical and economic impact of suboptimal ordering. Laboratories and pathologists can share this information with local clinicians in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and improve patient care.
According to Sterling T. Bennett, M.D., M.S., medical director, Intermountain Central Laboratory and chair, Clinical Pathology Development Team, “Intermountain Healthcare Laboratory Services has used ARUP’s ATOP service on several occasions to identify areas for improved utilization. For example, ATOP helped us reduce over-utilization of anti-HIV-2 testing through policy changes, helped us decrease the use of inferior testing for chlamydia detection through improved requisitions and physician education, and helped us identify tests that should be brought in-house. ATOP is just one of many benefits ARUP provides to make our laboratories better.”
The ATOP process begins with a team of experts, which includes ARUP pathologists and data analysts, as well as University of Utah School of Medicine faculty, analyzing a client’s test ordering patterns as mined from ARUP’s data warehouse in order to identify areas of potential over-, under-, and misuse. Referral test volumes and costs are then evaluated against ARUP’s extensive knowledge base of ordering issues, taking advantage of ARUP’s data warehouse containing more than eight years of archived test orders and results from hundreds of hospitals and laboratories nationwide.
The ATOP analysis identifies whether observed data patterns are consistent with those expected if physicians follow national guidelines and best practices. Specific patterns include: 1) Order volumes relative to those of related tests, 2) Order volumes relative to those of other clients, 3) Result distributions, and 4) Age, sex, and/or result distribution. ATOP client- specific reports contain recommendations addressing patient care, profitability, and efficiency.
Reports include an analysis of tests addressed in ATOP knowledge base, an analysis of the top tests comprising 80 percent of total laboratory expenses, literature references to support recommendations, and listing of top tests by expense, volume, and cost per test. Ordering recommendations are based on available national guidelines, industry best practices, and the expertise of ARUP pathologists and University of Utah School of Medicine faculty.
ATOP works in tandem with ARUP Consult(R), The Physician’s Guide to Test Ordering and Selection (http://www.arupconsult.com). ARUP Consult provides instant, electronic, point-of-care access to laboratory testing for more than 1,000 laboratory tests to assist with test selection and decision making. Available in both Web and PDA platforms at no cost, ARUP Consult provides laboratories and their physicians/health care providers with a tool to more effectively serve their patients by allowing clinicians to receive guidance in ordering lab tests, as well as access to interpretations of those results, allowing patient care to begin as soon as possible. As ARUP Consult’s purpose is prospective, to help health care providers select, order, and interpret laboratory tests on the front line, ARUP ATOP’s objective is retrospective.
About ARUP Laboratories
ARUP Laboratories is a national clinical and anatomic pathology reference laboratory and an enterprise of the University of Utah and its Department of Pathology. With 2,000 employees, ARUP offers more than 2,000 tests and test combinations, ranging from routine screening tests to highly esoteric molecular and genetic assays, for patients throughout the country. Rather than competing with its clients for physician office business, ARUP chooses instead to support clients’ existing test menus by offering highly complex and unique tests, with accompanying consultative support, to enhance their abilities to provide local and regional laboratory services. ARUP’s clients include more than half of the nation’s university teaching hospitals and children’s hospitals, as well as multihospital groups, major commercial laboratories, group purchasing organizations, military and government facilities, and major clinics. In addition, ARUP is a worldwide leader in innovative laboratory research and development, led by the efforts of the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology(TM). For further information on ARUP Laboratories or its Suite of Integrated Services, please visit http://www.aruplab.com.
ARUP Laboratories
CONTACT: Ronald L. Weiss, M.D., M.B.A., President and Chief OperatingOfficer, +1-801-584-5188, or Brian Jackson, M.D., M.S., Medical Director,Informatics, +1-801-583-2787 ext. 3191, or Cynthia Holden, Manager,Integrated Marketing Communications, +1-801-583-2787 ext. 3318, all of ARUPLaboratories
