Future Trends

Several current forces have set anticipated future changes in health care in motion, or, at least, have set the stage for change. End-consumer demand increasingly drives the market; as a result, entire businesses are transforming or emerging anew to meet these demands. In general, consumers demand high quality at reasonable cost, to be delivered as fast as possible with minimal inconvenience. The health care consumer takes this expectation further, to include the desire for all helpful information regarding one's health to be made readily available for him/her to make the best decision and minimize morbidity, mortality, misdiagnosis, and inconvenience. This article addresses the impact upon the laboratory by considering four key interrelated dynamics that affect these trends: market, medicine, technology, and information systems.