Ask Pathology Geek
How do you build a successful pathology outreach program?
A successful outreach program requires operating the hospital lab like a commercial business: investing in dedicated sales, ensuring rapid and reliable turnaround times, and providing specialized consultative support to ordering physicians.
Shifting the Mindset
Hospital labs are traditionally cost centers focused on inpatient care. Outreach requires a shift to a commercial mindset. Competing with national reference labs means competing on service, courier logistics, and turnaround time—areas where hospital labs often struggle without dedicated focus.
Leveraging Local Expertise
The primary advantage of a hospital outreach program is local access. Ordering physicians can call the lab and speak directly to a pathologist they know. Programs should aggressively market this consultative availability, positioning pathologists as accessible clinical partners rather than distant names on a report.
Operational Readiness
An outreach sales effort should not outpace the laboratory's operational capacity. Before scaling, test accessioning, turnaround time, client support, electronic connectivity, billing, and courier logistics under realistic volume. Early service failures can damage trust and make retention significantly harder.
Key takeaways
- Shift the laboratory mindset from an internal cost center to a competitive business.
- Market the local accessibility and consultative expertise of your pathologists.
- Ensure operations and logistics are flawless before initiating sales efforts.