School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations
A Clinical Testing Solution to Disrupt the Industry
Poster Number
117
Document Type
Poster
Status
Medical Student
Abstract Category
Basic Biomedical Sciences
Keywords
Biomedical Engineering, Clinical Testing, Microfluidics, Biosensor
Publication Date
Spring 2018
Abstract
Many healthcare providers are increasingly reliant on laboratory outsourcing to reduce overhead costs and simplify their systems. Unfortunately, these third-party labs delay patient results and timely provision of care, while inconveniencing many patients. These frustrations and delays are coupled with an increasing reliance on laboratory testing for diagnoses. Physicians report that 80% of diagnoses are based on clinical testing and patients and providers are often stuck waiting, on average 3 days, for results before medical care can continue.
Hospitals are often the only healthcare institutions with in-house labs, which are inherently high cost and take extended time for results. Even well insured individuals are left paying out-of-pocket for clinical testing due to outrageous markups when testing is billed to insurance.
I aim to disrupt this paradigm by designing an on-demand, in-house clinical diagnostic solution. My goal is to design a technology capable of covering many commonly ordered lab tests in an easy-to-use, compact package.
My design efforts included performing bioinformatics research to catalog available technologies throughout several disciplines. After compiling technologies, I consulted local experts in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and immunology, then formulated a design for a new biosensor. The result is the Rapid Diagnostic Suite (RDS).
The RDS system is a bench-top testing instrument that will only require 100 microliters of sample to run a 7-test panel. Each panel will be contained in a pre-manufactured cartridge. Cartridges will combine tests that are often ordered together. RDS will employ its proprietary microfluidic immune-based design to deploy the sample and testing cartridge materials, measure reaction and produce results. Instrument controls will be calibrated daily with a control sample.
The RDS system will be available at pharmacies and other convenient medical clinics. Consumers who use these facilities will avoid high co-pays and co-insurances associated with third-party labs and avoid the outrageous markups charged by hospitals when lab services are billed to insurance. In this use scenario, the provider saves money, the customer pays less, and everyone receives results faster.
Small healthcare businesses will recover missed revenue by performing comprehensive testing in-house, reducing outsourced testing. Low testing cost will ensure a profitable business model with generous margins for the company, while leading to tremendous customer satisfaction from reduced out-of-pocket cost and wait-time.
My summer research culminated with the beginnings of a prototype design that will continue to be developed and tested within the next two years.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Open Access
1
A Clinical Testing Solution to Disrupt the Industry
Many healthcare providers are increasingly reliant on laboratory outsourcing to reduce overhead costs and simplify their systems. Unfortunately, these third-party labs delay patient results and timely provision of care, while inconveniencing many patients. These frustrations and delays are coupled with an increasing reliance on laboratory testing for diagnoses. Physicians report that 80% of diagnoses are based on clinical testing and patients and providers are often stuck waiting, on average 3 days, for results before medical care can continue.
Hospitals are often the only healthcare institutions with in-house labs, which are inherently high cost and take extended time for results. Even well insured individuals are left paying out-of-pocket for clinical testing due to outrageous markups when testing is billed to insurance.
I aim to disrupt this paradigm by designing an on-demand, in-house clinical diagnostic solution. My goal is to design a technology capable of covering many commonly ordered lab tests in an easy-to-use, compact package.
My design efforts included performing bioinformatics research to catalog available technologies throughout several disciplines. After compiling technologies, I consulted local experts in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and immunology, then formulated a design for a new biosensor. The result is the Rapid Diagnostic Suite (RDS).
The RDS system is a bench-top testing instrument that will only require 100 microliters of sample to run a 7-test panel. Each panel will be contained in a pre-manufactured cartridge. Cartridges will combine tests that are often ordered together. RDS will employ its proprietary microfluidic immune-based design to deploy the sample and testing cartridge materials, measure reaction and produce results. Instrument controls will be calibrated daily with a control sample.
The RDS system will be available at pharmacies and other convenient medical clinics. Consumers who use these facilities will avoid high co-pays and co-insurances associated with third-party labs and avoid the outrageous markups charged by hospitals when lab services are billed to insurance. In this use scenario, the provider saves money, the customer pays less, and everyone receives results faster.
Small healthcare businesses will recover missed revenue by performing comprehensive testing in-house, reducing outsourced testing. Low testing cost will ensure a profitable business model with generous margins for the company, while leading to tremendous customer satisfaction from reduced out-of-pocket cost and wait-time.
My summer research culminated with the beginnings of a prototype design that will continue to be developed and tested within the next two years.