Abstracts Business

Communicating the Value Contributions of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) to Healthcare Administrators, Evidence of Value from a Multiple Cases Study

by Susan K Edralin

Hospital administrators were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the strategic alignment of PaLM value-based activities (VBAs). Hospital based PaLM leaders were interviewed to explore their communication of the VBAs. This study identified a misalignment between the assessments utilized by healthcare administrators for PaLM services and the value contributions of laboratorians. PaLM leaders offered insight into the laboratory’s value chain. Three themes emerged from the data: PaLM VBAs, PaLM communication efforts, and PaLM VBA strategic alignment. Together these findings suggest that hospital laboratorians offer untapped value in healthcare, and hospital administrators failing to recognize this value miss opportunities to improve value and capture cost savings. Suggestions to improve the communication of PaLM VBAs and the perceptions of hospital administrators are made.