Perspectives on cost and outcomes for point-of-care testing

Point-of-care testing (POCT) is usually more expensive on a unit-cost basis than testing performed in a central laboratory. It is difficult to manage POCT and to maintain regulatory compliance, especially in large institutions. However, some POCT technologies have improved patient outcomes (patient self-glucose monitoring in the home, tight glycemic control in intensive care settings) or hospital or emergency department operations (whole-blood cardiac-marker testing and D-dimer testing in emergency departments). In some cases, these outcomes result simply from making a new test available, rather than performing the test at the point of care. In most cases, the rapid turnaround time provided by POCT is the main factor that is ultimately responsible for the improvement in outcomes.