Implications of autoverification for the clinical laboratory.

In an era of financial stress, the clinical laboratory must maximize the efficiency of its operations. In this context, Centralized Laboratory Services, Inc., Long Island City, New York, attempted to introduce autoverification into its chemistry department. We discuss some of the issues associated with implementation of autoverification and also our effort to get an approximate quantitative estimate of the extent of productivity improvement related to the initiation of autoverification at Centralized Laboratory Services (CLS). We used payroll and expense records for 4-week periods preceding and following the introduction of autoverification to construct such an estimate. On an annualized basis, CLS data suggests a maximum savings of approximately 0.3 FTEs from the introduction of autoverification. This represents 3.1% of the workforce in the chemistry department at CLS.