Opportunities and challenges of immunohistochemistry consolidation
May Chin · Journal of Histotechnology · 2011
The purpose of this initiative was to determine and analyze the opportunities and challenges behind the consolidation of labs performing immunohistochemistry (IHC) within a designated region. All labs are facing budgetary constraints and they are expected to find and explore potential opportunities to save financial resources while maintaining quality service, efficiency and effectiveness in the services they provide. One option is to consolidate IHC testing, if currently performed in multiple labs, to one large centralized lab. This paper provides an outline of some of the potential issues that need to be reviewed prior to making a decision to consolidate or not. The analysis should include a review of the current state of IHC testing at the IHC performing labs and the potential opportunities and challenges behind the proposed consolidated future state. This would involve assessing lab staffing levels, physical space and equipment, IHC workload process, transportation and tracking of blocks and slides between labs, purchasing and inventory, quality assurance and the impact on stakeholders.Labs considering consolidation of IHC will need to base their own decision upon their findings after carefully analyzing their current state and their potential future consolidated state. Opportunities and challenges will need to be assessed to determine the feasibility of the consolidation. Expectations behind the consolidation should be defined and, if consolidation is feasible, implementation processes will need to be developed. Independent of the decision to consolidate or not, potential areas of improvement may be discovered through analysis and discussion and these improvements may be readily implemented into the current state.