ASCP 2023: A Data-Driven Approach to Advocate for your Laboratory’s Needs

In the current healthcare environment, where resources are sparse, it is more important than ever for laboratory leaders to justify to C-suite executives their need for more staffing or laboratory equipment. ASCP’s new Negotiation and Advocacy Toolbox, developed with a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will address those concerns during two education sessions at ASCP 2023. Both sessions will be facilitated by laboratory leaders who developed the Toolbox materials, available on ASCP's Negotiation and Advocacy Toolbox page. 

Roll-out and Application of ASCP’s Negotiation & Advocacy Toolbox: A Data-Driven Approach to Advocate for your Laboratory’s Needs, Wednesday, October 18, 1:30  pm PDT, in Room 104B. This is a CME-eligible education session highlighting key strategies to demonstrate the value of the laboratory via the Toolbox’s existing content. Co-facilitators of the session will be Christina Nickel, MHA, MLS(ASCP)^CM, CPHQ, and Aaron Odegard, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CMSM^CM, both laboratory leaders. 

“The first session will be more presentation style. I will talk about how increasing the visibility of the laboratory can improve the outcomes of the laboratory,” Ms. Nickel says. “I’ll also discuss how to talk to C-suite executives and how you can change the laboratory from being an afterthought (for senior leaders) to a forethought. The COVID-19 pandemic has given the laboratory an opportunity to be viewed as a significant resource for a health system.”  

Mr. Odegard’s presentation will focus on the importance of engaging and retaining laboratory staff. He will discuss ways to build strong laboratory teams that are inclusive and will provide tools such as interview questions, ways to engage staff as ambassadors within the health system, and how to build relationships with leaders in the community. He will also share a tool he uses to justify to senior leadership why it is important to hire additional staff.  

“Colleagues I have talked to who are administrators are emphasizing the need to reduce costs,” Ms. Nickel says. “So, our laboratory is not hiring now but there are times when we cannot operate without hiring additional staff.”  

Roundtable Discussion: ASCP’s Negotiation & Advocacy Toolbox: A Data-Driven Approach to Advocate for your Laboratory’s Needs will be Friday, October 20, at 9:15 PDT in Room 204. This roundtable will include case-based scenarios faced by laboratory leadership, with a facilitated brainstorming session on ways to address these challenges using Toolbox techniques and strategies. Ms. Nickel and Mr. Odegard will co-facilitate with Ihab Abumuhor, MSHCA, MSCS, MLS(ASCP)SBB, whose laboratory was recognized as ASCP and The Joint Commission's first "Leading Laboratory."

“My emphasis will be on laboratory visibility," Mr. Abumuhor says. "When you don’t have visibility, you don’t have the ability to advocate for better wages. Lack of visibility leads to a lack of recognition and appreciation and difficulty in getting investment in capita and other innovative solutions. Also, laboratory visibility helps attract strong talent. A lot of laboratory administrators are very seasoned and will understand this; we are also trying to help newcomers to leadership positions."

He also emphasized the importance of being comfortable being able to make the case for laboratory needs by tying in its overall financial picture.  "For any strategy to work you really have to know your financials, as well as clinical and operational roles and how that fits into the overall health system," he says. "It's a reality check.  I’m spending a lot of time on communicating the laboratory leaders’ and the C-suite the value of the lab to the health system not just in terms of quality, clinical outcomes but also in terms of revenue, savings, and that the lab operates at margins that improves the overall health system margins. This helps the lab secure the funding it needs to invest in innovation and new personnel. It is a reality check with our current economic climate; no money, no mission."