Lab Medicine: Diamonds, Not Coal

Diamonds are associated with strength, happiness, and health, created through intense pressure that transforms an unremarkable pebble to a valued gem. Much like diamonds, laboratory medicine is under transformational pressure to provide value in ways it never has before and to exceed expectations. With impressive agility, collaboration, and innovation, many laboratorians around the globe are rising to the occasion, providing data and insights that improve patient wellness, enhance safety, mitigate costs, and more. Recognition and amplification of these efforts and outcomes are crucial steps in reinforcing the power of laboratory medicine as a “valued gem” within healthcare. The UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence award program has long recognized the value of laboratory medicine. The program was created to inspire, amplify, and celebrate integrated clinical care teams who have achieved measurably better healthcare, fueled by laboratory medicine. Three top winning teams, teams of distinction and/or achievement, are selected each year with rigorous scoring from the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM), EHMA (European Health Management Association), Modern Healthcare, Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ), and the Institute of Health Economics (IHE). The award program, while funded by Abbott, is agnostic to products and platforms, free to apply, and accessible to over 175 countries. Now in its fifth year of judge-identified winners, UNIVANTS has reached a “diamond” milestone with over 75 laboratory-enabled best practices recognized to date. The most recent award recipients were recognized this July 2024, with more details in Fig. 1, as well as through the program website at www.UnivantsHCE.com. All 12 of these diverse, new initiatives, much like those previously documented (1–4), have strategically generated measurable benefits for patients, payors, clinicians, and health system/administrations through unified teams and avant-garde thinking (thus, comprising the honored title of UNIVANTS). Notably, each of these best practices, whether through new initiatives for screening, revamping old initiatives to improve care delivery and increase health equity, implementation of risk prediction and wellness programs, and more, share key learnings and insights into the brilliant treasure trove of improved health outcomes. 2024 UNIVANTS of healthcare excellence award winners. Among the crown jewels are integrated clinical care initiatives that address global disease burdens currently on the rise, including sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI), cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and diabetes. A critical success factor across all 4 includes utilizing laboratory-generated insights and information. In the case of STBBI, critical success factors specifically related to testing include access to testing and increasing frequency of testing in high-risk and marginalized populations. The innovative GetCheckedOnline program, led by the British Columbia Center for Disease Control (BC CDC), addresses these gaps with anonymized access, online registration, timely testing, and subsequent notification, treatment, and follow-through. Standout outcomes included reduced stigma, improved testing cadence, and a 10-fold improvement in health system resource utilization (from 300 to 3000 visits/months). The innovative SureNet program (5) also maximizes resource utilization, in addition to improving statin prescription ordering, fills, and laboratory test completions in patients with very high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Through electronic surveillance, strategic algorithms, and specialized care managers, the SureNet program identifies patients with care gaps and successfully reduces cardiovascular risk through statin-lowered LDL-C. A final gem among the top 3 winning teams for the 2024 UNIVANTS awards involves early detection of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) using Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4). Use of innovative algorithms and clinical decision support have become increasingly more essential for early detection of liver disease. Thus, laboratory medicine is integral within this setting, enabling key outcomes at Premier Integrated Labs of reduced hospital stay and decreased workday absenteeism for patients with suspected MASLD. These best practices are designs for what can be done, while serving as inspiration for what is possible. While learning from these treasures and doing more in your respective fields, remember that all laboratorians are diamonds with enduring brilliance. Laboratory medicine did and can thrive under pressure, delivering solutions that not only address care gaps, but strengthen relationships, promote happiness, and advance health. With this diamond milestone for UNIVANTS and laboratory medicine, let’s celebrate, inspire, and shine together. Author Contributions: The corresponding author takes full responsibility that all authors on this publication have met the following required criteria of eligibility for authorship: (a) significant contributions to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (b) drafting or revising the article for intellectual content; (c) final approval of the published article; and (d) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the article thus ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved. Nobody who qualifies for authorship has been omitted from the list. Authors’ Disclosures or Potential Conflicts of Interest: Upon manuscript submission, all authors completed the author disclosure form. Research Funding: None declared. Disclosures: C. Strain receives a salary from Abbott Diagnostics and holds relevant stocks in Abbott. T. Ravalico receives a salary from Abbott Diagnostics and holds relevant stocks in Abbott. T. Ravalico also serves on the ADLM Corporate Advisory board, is the Corporate Representative to the IFCC Executive Board, and a member of the IFCC-TF Corporate Members.

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