INDIANAPOLIS, July 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- North Memorial Health Hospital (NMHH), a Level 1 Trauma center located in Robbinsdale, Minn., reduced the number of unreimbursed lab tests by 50 percent after implementing a test utilization program in its reference lab. This success and other results of its program will be discussed at the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting, Tuesday, August 2 at 7:30 am and 12:30 pm, in San Diego.

Laboratory Supervisor Michele Koester will discuss the rapidly changing healthcare environment that led NMHH to implement a test utilization program in its laboratory to achieve four main priorities: population health, patient quality experience, operational efficiency, and profitable growth. The organization adopted hc1.com, an award-winning healthcare relationship management platform, to unlock real-time metrics needed to impact change.

“The healthcare industry is shifting from a volume to value-based payment model, so there are economic incentives to drive efficiencies into patient, provider, and payer behaviors,” said Koester. “To do this, we devised a test utilization program that delivers cost savings and better customer service.”

The NMHH lab, which conducts 1.9 million tests and bills $10 million annually, consists of 107 full-time employees and nine board certified pathologists. In addition to reducing unreimbursed tests, the test utilization program generated a 127 percent increase in Total T4 testing over a proven obsolete test.

“By using hc1.com, NMHH now has a platform that gives us a real-time view of physician ordering patterns, as well as insight that helps us better serve and retain our clients,” said Koester. “Before, NMHH manually pulled analytics from multiple systems, resulting in strained resources, outdated results, and diminished service.”

The AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo is planned for July 30-August 3 at the San Diego Convention Center.

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The hc1® Healthcare Relationship Cloud® enables health systems, diagnostic labs and post acute care organizations to grow profitably and deliver amazing service. hc1 has been adopted across more than 1,000 locations across the globe, including Cleveland Clinic, Alere, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Sonic Healthcare. The company has received accolades from Gartner Research, was named “Best Healthcare CRM for Diagnostic Laboratories” by Frost & Sullivan and is included in the KLAS Healthcare CRM Report 2016. To learn more about hc1, please visit www.hc1.com and follow us on Twitter @hc1_HRM, LinkedIn, and Facebook.