LII:The Comprehensive Guide to Physician Office Laboratory Setup and Operation

Title: The Comprehensive Guide to Physician Office Laboratory Setup and Operation

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: June 2015

This guide provides an in-depth discussion of the physician office laboratory (POL), including the clinical environment, testing domains, data management, and regulatory environment as well as useful, POL-friendly resources like vendor and distributor lists. (For an actual PDF- or PediaPress-friendly version of this guide, please see the corresponding Book Creator page.)

The table of contents for The Comprehensive Guide to Physician Office Laboratory Setup and Operation is as follows:

1. Introduction

2. The Clinical Environment

• The clinical laboratory and its equipment
• Good laboratory practice
• Laboratory safety
• Regulatory compliance: HIPAA and PPACA
• Regulatory compliance: CLIA
• Point-of-care testing
• Provider-performed microscopy testing
• CLIA market and industry trends
• Economic issues related to the POL
• Data management

3. Primary Laboratory Testing Domains in the POL

• Urinalysis
• Hematology/Blood collection
• Chemistry
• Immunology
• Toxicology and pain management
• Molecular diagnostics

4. Data Management

• Functional requirements
• Workflow and integration (EHR, HIS)
• Workflow and integration instruments
• LIS as a center of workflow/full office integration
• LIS relationship to other IT systems
• Best practices and standard operating procedures
• Other workflow requirements

5. Staffing and Education Requirements

• General staffing and education
• List of certification programs
• List of organizations and professional certifications
• List of educational programs
• List of staffing agencies

6. Additional Resources

• Further reading
• List of POL instrument vendors and manufacturers
• List of other POL vendors, not covered elsewhere
• List of distributors
• List of consultants in the POL market
• List of consumables and supplies used in POL
• List of suppliers
• Laboratory billing