From the President’s Desk

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Service line strategy

Emily E. Volk, MD

April 2023—Here is a scenario for you: Your hospital administration team identifies a strategic need and establishes a new service line, perhaps in cardiology or women’s health. They speak with the relevant surgeons and specialists, gathering expert perspectives about this new service line. But only after everything else has been put in place does anyone consider how laboratory medicine will play a role. Sound familiar?

This has been a frustration that I, as a member of hospital leadership and as a practicing anatomic and clinical pathologist, have felt over the years. Laboratory medicine is too often overlooked in the development of new service lines. As pathologists, we are typically consulted only after the fact, if at all.

But pathologists could, and should, be strategic partners in service line development. We have tremendous expertise to offer in diagnostic tests, resources, and personnel that should be put in place to make a new venture successful for our hospital system and for our patients. We should be viewed not as ancillary but as central to the development of important, revenue-building, patient engagement initiatives.

And what if health care system administrators viewed the laboratory itself as a service line? Diagnostic results inform procedures and other treatments. We offer enormous value to our institutions, our clinical colleagues, and our patients. For so many reasons, pathologists can serve as strategic partners to hospital or health care system leadership.

Dr. Volk

Part of the problem here is that when we do our job well, it is easy for other health care professionals to forget about us. We fall into their blind spot. The laboratory is like your home internet service: You notice it only when it is not working properly.

So what can we do to get more involved in the planning of new service lines? I see great opportunities for pathologists to look at the suite of testing geared toward wellness of various populations and consider how it might inform the development of new service lines or improved utilization of existing facilities and services. For example, we can look at ordering patterns and electronic medical record data to see where and how tests are being ordered, whether they are being ordered and used correctly, and how all of that can be improved. We can also make recommendations based on our own population data about how to better reach communities in need of certain tests.