This year, MedicalLab Management’s annual survey of clinical laboratory directors yielded 389 respondents. The survey solicited input from a cross-section of hospital laboratory directors in terms of facility size, testing volume, location, and level of automation and technology expertise. The survey queries lab directors on budgets, technology use, satisfaction with current vendors and systems, and future acquisition plans.

As health care reimbursement models continue to evolve and the laboratory refines its focus on operational efficiency and patient outcomes, we are encouraged by laboratories’ commitment to further automating operations and implementing systems that minimize turnaround times, provide greater testing accuracy and precision, reduce errors, reap financial gains, and most important, positively affect patient outcomes.