The National Clinical and Public Health Laboratory Survey--1977.

In May 1976, the Laboratory Management Consultation Office, Center for Disease Control, conducted a survey of the clinical and public health laboratories in the U.S.A. in order to update data from a 1971 census of clinical and public health laboratories. The 1971 data were published in the January/February 1973 issue of Cadence of the Clinical Laboratory. The combined data from the 1971 census and the 1976 survey provide an extensive data base which will allow long-range planning toward improving laboratory service in the U.S.A.

An analysis of cost studies performed in public health laboratories.

From 1973 to 1976, 23 public health laboratories performed cost accounting studies with the assistance of the Laboratory Management Consultation Office, Center for Disease Control. Cose data obtained in 16 of these laboratories were used as the basis of a discussion on the identification of indirect expenses and the method of reapportioning these costs to the diagnostic testing sections of the laboratories. Calculations of cost-per-weighted units and cost-per-test of some laboratory diagnostic sections are presented. A laboratory administrator can gain some insight into the effectiveness of resource utilization within his own laboratory by identifying cost center expenditures and considering differences in cost-per-weighted unit among the various revenue-producing sections. With the currently available data, no significant relationship between indirect costs and overall laboratory cost-per-weighted unit was demonstrated. It is hoped that additional data can be gathered and other indices developed which will help laboratory management to more precisely identify and then control indirect costs.

Seattle-King County revisited.

For approximately five years the Seattle-King County Public Health Laboratory has measured its diagnostic laboratory workload quantitatively in terms of relative values. Seattle-King County has used the laboratory average cost-per-relative value concept. However, increasing operational costs, multiple demands for the same tax dollar, and professional desire for more precise costing information led the laboratory staff to refine their method of determining a cost-per-relative value. This article shares their new methodology of determining a cost-per-relative value for each primary cost center. Also shared are a few examples of how costs differ when using the old method in comparison to using the new method.

The number of personnel needed to perform examinations.

The Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors and the Center for Disease Control jointly developed a relative value system for measuring laboratory workload and productivity. This system has also served as a basis for determining the cost of tests. An additional usage, estimating both the number and grade levels of personnel needed by a laboratory to perform examinations, is explained in this article.