Many lab managers in Thailand participate in benchmarking studies to help them evaluate their performance relative to their peers. While some still hesitate to share internal data with third parties or struggle to interpret the results, a growing share of Thai labs see clear benefits to the benchmarking process.

“Benchmarking allows me to tell my team that we are on the same level as similar sized or larger hospitals and confirms that we have good techniques and practices in place,” says Colonel Dr Jaratphong Kasemmongkol, Director of the Pathology Division at Phramongkutklao Hospital, a military and teaching hospital in Bangkok. To supplement his benchmarking exercises, he regularly sends his staff to private and academic hospitals to observe best practices.

Some local labs, however, have concerns about sharing internal data on lab performance, notes Mrs Nitaya Chomngam, Managing Director of Professional Laboratory Management Corp (PROLAB), a private lab based in Bangkok. Although most benchmarking studies do not provide company-level data, some lab managers still fear that data sharing may expose them to undesired scrutiny or empower their competitors.

“Don’t be afraid that others…will take advantage of your information,” argues Mrs Chomngam. “We just need to compete with ourselves and move forward.”

One area of focus in many benchmarking studies is turnaround time (TAT), an important indicator of lab speed and efficiency. “Speed is very important, especially in urgent cases,” says Dr Kasemmongkol. Citing results from a recent benchmarking exercise, he highlighted that his team’s TAT for an urgent request is 15 minutes faster than the national average of 60 minutes, a fact that gives confidence to his team.

In evaluating results like these, it is important that labs compare themselves to similarly-structured competitors. External labs, for example, will often have slower TAT than hospital labs that are co-located with the specimen collection centres. In the case of PROLAB, Mrs Chomngam uses high-throughput equipment, auto-verification tools and other technologies at external labs to increase TAT. “Our reference lab is not in the hospital but we try to provide services as if we are,” she said.

Another advantage to benchmarking is that it helps labs understand how often their peers are pursuing accreditation through widely-used international standards like ISO15189 and ISO15190 or local standards like those set by the Thai Medical Technology Council. It also enables laboratories to see how other labs manage and streamline the cost of their operations through consolidation, standardisation and integration.

Benchmarking has enabled both Dr Kasemmongkol and Mrs Chomngam to ensure that their laboratories meet their own service delivery standards and rate among the fastest in the industry. By cultivating an open and honest culture where sharing of best practices and data is encouraged, both have achieved operational efficiency and success.