Point of Care Testing Surge in Both Kits
and Regulatory Changes

Point of Care Testing has seen a wide surge as more and better tests emerged in the last decade, with books, papers and conferences relating the products, procedures, testing qualification and regulations for POCT, as indicated by 170,000 hits on Google for the phrase “ Point of Care Testing”.

The most concise outline of reasons for & discussions of changes in the POCT market has come from a very readable Hospital & Health Networks summary site published by Health Forum, Inc. an American Hospital Association information company: 

See the POCT market summary site by Health Forum by clicking here.

“The No. 1 reason hospital POCT programs fail
is inadequate Quality Control"

(A direct quote from the Hospital & Health Networks web page, particularly applicable to the benefits of ColonTest as a Guaiac FOBT tests used in clinical settings where ColonTest materially helps with the improvements noted below.)

The Impact of Faster Results

POCT reduces test turnaround time, improves physician satisfaction and increases hospital revenue. Research shows that moving select tests, such as rapid glucose testing, from the central lab to the point of care, like the ED or the ICU can:

Reduce

    •    ED length of stay by 41 minutes per patient

    •    Test turnaround time by 87 percent

    •    ED divert hours by 27 percent, when combined with other

         multidepartment efforts

    •    ICU length of stay by 23 percent

    •    The number of patients requiring dialysis

Increase

    •    ED physician satisfaction by 50 percent

    •    Direct hospital revenue from decreased ED diversions

    •    Net savings per patient (by nearly $3,200 from rapid glucose testing,

         for example)

Sources: Sg2, 2006;  Lee-Lewandrowski, et al., Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 2003;Van den Berghe, et al., Critical Care Medicine, 2006; H&HN research, 2006”   Research: Dagmara Scalise (dscalise@healthforum.com)