The Cost of Quality: Managing Risk to Ensure Confidence in Patient Test Results

“Prevention is better than cure” is an age-old saying that holds true even in the area of quality systems used in the laboratory. Lab professionals everywhere recognize that preventing adverse incidents is far preferable to implementing corrective actions once an issue has occurred. However, the current economic environment in healthcare poses a challenge to lab management teams who are finding their resources stretched. They are often forced to make difficult cuts that could potentially affect patient test quality.Under these circumstances, applying cost-of-quality principles is a solution that can help labs make financially sound decisions while maintaining high standards of quality. The importance of quality processes in clinical laboratories cannot be overstated, as they directly impact patient care and outcomes. Quality processes have a clear relationship to laboratory costs. If more money is invested in good quality processes, there will likely be fewer errors and decreased costs related to recovery from failures. Conversely, neglecting good quality processes is likely to increase failures and the corresponding costs of poor quality.