Briefing: Improving Patient Care Through Harmonized Test Results

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Join AACC and leading experts in laboratory medicine and healthcare for a discussion of how harmonizing—or ensuring uniformity—among clinical test results can help patients get the care they need, and the policies needed to support harmonization efforts.

Speakers will address:

• Why It's Important to Harmonize Clinical Laboratory Test Results
• Improving Patient Care: A Physician's Perspective
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Success in Harmonizing Test Results

A serious healthcare issue today is that patients' lab results can disagree depending on where their tests were performed and what diagnostic methods were used. Harmonizing test results is crucial to ensuring that patients receive accurate diagnoses and effective treatment. Ensuring uniform test results also reduces healthcare costs. As an example, the CDC's Lipid Harmonization Program—which harmonized cholesterol test results—has generated savings ranging from $338 million to $7.6 billion per year, based on the economic value of the lives the program has saved annually. The laboratory medicine and healthcare communities are continuing to work toward harmonizing other critical tests, but coordinated action among many stakeholders, including Congress, is needed to build on the CDC's success.

When: Lunch Briefing: 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Where: Room B-369, Rayburn House Office Building

Who:

• Moderator: Dr. David Koch, Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, GA
• Introductory remarks: Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS)
• Dr. Stephen Master, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
• Dr. Darius Paduch, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY
• Dr. James Pirkle, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA

About AACC
Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.aacc.org.

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