Tougher demands like reimbursement challenges, and the need to reduce lab costs while improving patient care force clinical laboratories to reclassify expansion of automated lab functions from 'optional' to 'must-do'

AUSTIN, Texas, July 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's clinical laboratories are under the constant challenge to produce ever-faster turnaround times, while reducing errors. And as pressure intensifies to cut healthcare costs, laboratories are relying increasingly on automation not only to achieve these goals, but also to improve patient care and maintain lab profitability.

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"Partial or total automation offers an ideal solution for the tougher demands being placed on clinical diagnostic laboratories, including downward pressure on reimbursements," says Robert L. Michel, Editor-In-Chief of The Dark Report. "Automation has become a well-accepted technology— one that allows high quality, efficient, and patient-centric operation with low operating costs. But choosing the right lab automation system can be a daunting experience for laboratories, due to both budget constraints and design differences between systems offered in the marketplace."

To provide essential information to aid laboratory managers and executives in their automation decision-making process, there is a newly published white paper entitled "Buyer's Guide for Clinical Laboratory Automation – Achieving High Production Lab Automation and Lean Workflow: What Lab Managers should know before issuing the RFP." Published by The Dark Report and Dark Daily, it is available free to laboratory professionals as a PDF download.

This free white paper provides practical insights and indispensable information to help lab managers and executives maximize their return-on-investment in a lab automation system, based on their own lab's configuration, workflow, and budget. It outlines a multi-step plan for analyzing a lab's processes to determine how well a specific lab automation system might fit or integrate into the lab's current workflow and existing systems and technologies. It also offers an overview of important considerations and questions to ask when evaluating different systems.

This white paper addresses crucial topics such as:

• The top ten reasons why automation projects often fail
• Steps to take to assist laboratory managers in selecting a laboratory automation solution that meets their current needs and expectations, as well as future goals
• Checklists for evaluating an existing lab system
• Potential changes to workflow processing prior to introducing automation, to improve efficiency and productivity in ways that automation cannot
• How incorporating LEAN processes can produce the greatest benefits in conjunction with automation
• Five clinical laboratory areas that are significantly improved by automation
• Key components to take into account when evaluating various automation options, in order to achieve the laboratory's goals
• Other important considerations when comparing proposals from automation vendors of interest

Automation has the ability to transform a laboratory's processes, and by doing so reduce costs, boost quality, decrease errors, increase volume, and streamline workflow, while at the same time addressing the issue of workforce shortages. To learn more about how automation can achieve these goals, and points lab managers should consider in order to choose an appropriate lab automation solution, click here. "Buyer's Guide for Clinical Laboratory Automation – Achieving High Production Lab Automation and Lean Workflow: What Lab Managers should know before issuing the RFP" is a free publication and part of the Dark Daily Resource Center, comprised of a growing library of white papers and other information resources tailored specifically to the needs of laboratory administrators, lab managers, pathologists, and lab industry consultants.

For additional information, Contact: Ron Martin, 512-264-7103

SOURCE The Dark Report