title: Financial justification of alternate site testing.
abstract: Fixed costs are higher and variable costs lower for clinical laboratory testing than for alternate-site testing (AST). For AST to become cost-effective, variable costs must be reduced. Four models for accounting for the costs of clinical laboratory testing and AST are compared. A common error is to omit some of the indirect costs of a cost-per-test analysis for AST, thereby providing false claims. For a cost-per-test analysis, we recommend that identical categories be used for both the central laboratory and for AST. However, cost-per-test data alone do not completely represent institutional costs or savings associated with laboratory testing at any site.
mesh_terms: D002497:Centralized Hospital Services / Q000191:economics; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000191:economics; D017048:Health Care Costs; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000191:economics; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000191:economics*