ILIA TOLEDO: Two trends we’ve seen over the years are the aging population here in Puerto Rico and greater interest from patients in preventative care. What these trends translate to for our laboratory is an increase in testing as the older demographics require more care and those proactively managing their health are demanding more routine health screenings. We welcome the growth, but we also need to manage it. This means making the most of our existing resources – starting with our people.

Innovation and automation have been the keys to managing our growth. We’ve automated many of the tasks that had previously been performed manually. The implementation of laboratory automation has reduced manual sample handling for our staff significantly. Before we implemented our automation track, we either had samples moving from one analyzer to another or in many instances the collection of multiple sample tubes per patient. Both activities have been reduced significantly and have allowed our staff to be more efficient. In addition, middleware has allowed our team to focus more on test results that fall outside of our normal reference ranges, dramatically reducing manual review times and effort.

ILIA MORALES: This highlights a third trend, which is a shrinking workforce. Right now, in Puerto Rico, the demand for qualified laboratory professionals – especially Medical Technologists – far outweighs the available supply. This imbalance in supply and demand has resulted in increasing salary and benefit expectations. The shortage is compounded by the fact that most of our workload occurs during the 2^nd and 3^rd shifts. All this underscores our need to manage higher testing volumes without significantly increasing headcount.

ILIA TOLEDO: Our commitment to continuous improvement is and always will be at the core of our operating culture. For example, five years ago, we started working toward achieving ISO certification. That initiative was interrupted by Hurricane Maria and then by the pandemic. Now we’re preparing to resume this effort. 

ILIA MORALES: We’re also working with partners to identify opportunities to create more structured and standardized processes, increase operational efficiency and leverage open connectivity in order to create more seamless workflows. 

ILIA TOLEDO: Again, growth is a good thing, but we need to make sure that it’s not at the expense of client experience. Our team is constantly looking for ways to improve our client’s experience. Recently, we’ve been able to improve our turnaround times by 82% through many workflow improvements gained with informatics and automation. 

ILIA TOLEDO: To maximize our competitiveness today and future proof our business for tomorrow, we need a partner that offers a broad menu. That is the foundation of our long-term competitiveness – and it’s especially critical for a reference lab, as our success hinges on our ability to meet the needs of a diverse client base. It’s also important that our partner is continuously investing in that menu so we can adapt the menu to healthcare trends and changes in our patient population.

ILIA MORALES: As we discussed earlier, people are another critical aspect of this equation. We cannot manage growth simply by adding more staff. In addition to being inefficient, it’s also impractical given the labor shortage in our market. So, through the culmination of several workflow efficiencies ranging from reduced hands on maintenance, to easier reagent handling to automated result review we’ve been able to position our staff to take on more add value activities and further support our client’s.

ILIA TOLEDO: Back in the Spring of 2020 we were the first lab in Puerto Rico to offer COVID-19 testing. Since then, we have processed over 400,000 COVID tests – which is more than any other laboratory on the island. Most importantly, we’ve been able to help provide quality healthcare to Puerto Rico in a time of crisis. From a business standpoint, by offering COVID-19 testing, we were able to connect with over 100 new clients. Those clients initially relied on us just for COVID-19 testing. However, they were so impressed with us that now they are entrusting us with a wide range of tests. They’ve become regular clients.

ILIA MORALES: What enabled this success is that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were positioned for change. We had the infrastructure and the people in place to seize the opportunity. The result is a 30% increase in volume. We see this as a testament to the power of agility and that will definitely inform our long-term strategic planning moving forward.