The future of hospital laboratories. Position statement from the Royal Belgian Society of Clinical Chemistry (RBSCC).

To face the economic pressures arising from the current socio-economic conjuncture, hospital laboratories are endangered by an increasing trend towards the outsourcing of clinical laboratory tests to external (mega-) laboratories. This should allow hospitals to meet their economic requirements, but with an increased risk of loss of medical quality and, mid- to long-term, loss of cost effectiveness of healthcare at the national level. To anticipate current developments (economical and technological) that inevitably will affect the future of laboratory medicine, hospital laboratories should be proactive and enhance efficiency, reduce costs by consolidation, integrate into regional networks, and form alliances or partnerships. To create additional value, the core competency of laboratory professionals must be refocused to provide medical knowledge services (consultative support to clinicians) related to in vitro diagnostic testing. To integrate cost-efficiency with medical quality, implementation of a matricial organization - operational vs. biomedical level - could be an interesting approach. This integrated structure should create total quality of laboratory testing, managing the entire medical diagnostic cycle from the pre-preanalytical to post-postanalytical phase.