Leakages are the root cause of instability in a lab business management system. In a laboratory business, there is a particular profit margin planned every month, through which a potential ROI is estimated. The financial flow of your business disrupts by leakage in the system. This can have a negative effect on profits and ROI analytics.
As decision-makers, we must be aware of the challenges associated with Lab ROI. Moreover, we must understand how to address them in order to ensure a successful business environment in our company.
What are the laboratory challenges and how to identify them?
Common Challenges in Lab ROI are mainly the unaccounted gaps in the management system that directly affects lab cost. When untraced, they can be a potential threat to the lab business management. This is why you must identify the laboratory errors and plug them.
We must utilize technology as an advantage in our laboratory business to identify these laboratory challenges. A lab information system that allows end-to-end management & tracking of lab operations, finance, and lab inventory is necessitated.
Such a system allows you to
- Track your lab financial in-flows and out-flows
- Trace test process
- Maintain sample status
- Keep a check on the machines (analyzers)
- Evaluate stock movements
- Control offers
What are the types of leakages in lab management system?
The types of leakages that usually exist in your pathology lab are –
- Financial leakage : Due to mismatching numbers
- Operational leakage that affect TAT
- Sample Management errors that affect costs
- Manual errors that call for redos of tasks
- Quality errors that affect performance & productivity
Common challenges in Lab ROI
All types of laboratory errors that hamper cost, time, and productivity in your lab are responsible to impact the ROI.
Following are the examples of challenges faced in the laboratory that affect the lab’s ROI
- Untraceable & uncontrolled discount management program
- Machines/Analyzers that consume reagents more than expected that affect test results and create leakage in the inventory
- Sample mishandling and loss
- Bad debts that are hard to trace and fix
- Loss of handwritten bills and documents during a business transaction
- Inventory wastage due to lack of tracking on expiry & expiry stock
How to reduce laboratory errors
Some of the best practices that can help in lab business management and cut down lab cost are:
- Automate your operations & finance
- Ensure your LIMS offers sample automation and tracking
- Enable user control and activity logs
- Use standard process
- Set controls on offers and approvals
- Track overall finance & operations with MIS, analytics & dashboards
In conclusion, there are various challenges faced in the laboratory that can impact the return on investment (ROI). These laboratory challenges include technological advancements, financial constraints, human resources, regulatory compliance, and data management. Business management systems in labs must invest in the latest technology.
This will help them attract and retain qualified personnel, and give priority to regulatory compliance and data management. It will also help them remain competitive, maintain lab costs, and achieve maximum potential ROI. By addressing these challenges proactively, laboratories can position themselves for long-term success.
