More than seven billion diagnostic tests are run in the U.S. each year to help doctors make accurate, timely decisions about a person's medical treatment.

From health systems in larger cities to community hospitals across the U.S., each is looking at how they can keep up with the growing demand of lab tests while maintaining the accuracy needed for doctors to make timely decisions about their patient's health.

With an eye toward making the lab a more integrated and more efficient part of the hospital, one health system is already investing in their future.

The Next Level for Lab Diagnostics

Anchored by the second largest hospital in Georgia and one of the premier teaching hospitals in the U.S., Navicent Health provides test results for its 50 facilities throughout the region.

The Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine from Navicent Health recently invested in Abbott's latest diagnostic innovations – the Alinity ci-series, a suite of lab systems that deliver fast, accurate testing that can ultimately help improve patient care.

"Turning around test results quickly, especially for critical patients, is a priority for Navicent Health, and the Alinity ci-series allows the flexibility to prioritize these samples while keeping routine patient samples at a consistent pace as well," said Dr. Emily L. Ryan, Ph.D., scientific director of Navicent Health’s Laboratory.

A Win-Win-Win for Patients, Physicians and Hospitals

Using Abbott's technology for both acute and outpatient diagnostic needs at its core lab, the hospital system hopes to see its investment speed up delivery of test results, fix inefficiencies and give clinicians more time with patients.

With those lab upgrades, Navicent Health's patients inside and outside the hospital setting — whether in acute care labs, nursing homes or home health facilities— can help ensure a fast delivery of lab test results, which can lead to faster diagnosis but potentially more face time with their previously time-strapped physicians, too.

That's a win-win-win scenario. By installing and using Alinity instruments, Hospitals enjoy greater efficiency and almost 50% more space savings, patients potentially get a better care experience, and physicians can get to spend more time nurturing the patient-doctor relationship.

"Leading-edge healthcare systems like Navicent Health are recognizing the added value their own core laboratories can play in becoming more of a clinical decision engine, helping clinicians interpret results and ask the right questions that can ultimately help doctors diagnose patients accurately and faster," said Jeremy Schubert, Abbott's divisional vice president of U.S. commercial operations. "Alinity ci-series is the latest cutting-edge diagnostics technology that enables speed, efficiency and space savings, freeing up lab departments to consult more with their clinicians and hospitals."

Navicent Health is leading the way in diagnostic testing and addressing challenges felt by many healthcare systems across the U.S. As aging populations spike global testing rates, increasing the needs for disease management and improved access to care, the potent mix of care improvements that Alinity can provide is more important than ever.

As those demands increase, we intend to keep creating leading-edge diagnostic equipment to help everyone get the insights they need at the moment they need them, no matter where they are.

Labs and doctors are both integral parts of providing the good care to patients. When it's easier for them to work together, that care becomes the best it can be.