Selling to Physician Office Labs

Many physicians have in-office labs to perform tests at the point of care rather than having their testing done by independent reference labs. In-office testing is good for the patient, because they can discuss their test results with the physician immediately rather than waiting for a follow-up call or appointment. This dialogue can promote more active patient participation in their treatment program and better health outcomes.

In-office testing is also good for the provider. Time-strapped primary care clinicians wishing to grow their practices, and physically unable to squeeze any more patients into their day, turn to labs as a way to generate additional revenue, while providing even higher quality care.

For distributor sales reps, these physician office laboratories (POLs), can be opportunity to grow sales while supporting the practice’s clinical goals. In-office testing provides an ongoing benefit to the sales rep: what many refer to as "the reagent trail." Far from a one-time sale, lab equipment creates its own annuity, with physicians re-ordering consumable test kits, testing reagents, and supplies on a regular basis. In addition, testing begets more testing: as physicians experience the substantial patient care and practice benefits of having their own in-office labs, they invariably look to do more testing at the point of care.

After completing this course, you will understand:

• The rules and regulatory agencies impacting POL sales, including CMS, CLIA, CDC, FDA, and Medicare
• The benefits of POL lab testing for doctors, patients, and other stakeholders
• How to identify a practice's testing potential by specialty and size, and can help to ensure that each customer is aware of opportunities they might be missing
• How to excel in common POL sales scenarios, including helping customers evolve from doing no testing to doing simple waived testing and from doing waived testing to doing more sophisticated moderate complexity testing
• How to capitalize on the wide range of ancillary sales opportunities represented by the POL