A-272 Benchmarking as a Tool for Performance Evaluation in Clinical Laboratory Quality Indicators

Abstract

Continuous improvement of clinical laboratory processes is essential to ensure the quality of healthcare services. However, challenges remain in adopting this strategy, particularly in identifying processes that require improvement. In this context, quality indicators are fundamental tools for monitoring laboratory workflow stages and guiding improvement actions, as recommended by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189:2015. In addition, benchmarking, an interlaboratory performance comparison approach, represents an important strategy for continuous improvement, allowing comparative analysis among laboratories and enhancing the identification of critical stages for process optimization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the internal performance of a laboratory, with emphasis on indicators of on-time result reporting and amended reports, and to compare these results with benchmarking data, highlighting the relevance of external evaluation for a more comprehensive interpretation of quality indicators. Quality indicator data collected from June to November 2025 from a support laboratory were analyzed. During this period, 1,566,519 clinical laboratory tests were processed. To compare performance with peer laboratories, these data were submitted to Metricare, a national benchmarking platform for comparative management of healthcare quality indicators. Internal targets were established at 98.5% for on-time result reporting and zero DPMO (Defects Per Million Opportunities) for amended reports. For interlaboratory performance evaluation, a ranking system ranging from one to five was applied, in which one represents the best performance and five the least favorable. The internal target for both indicators was to achieve a ranking of three. DPMO was used as the benchmarking metric for data analysis. Internal performance for on-time result reporting showed a mean of 98.1%, corresponding to 1,537,047 tests reported within the established timeframe, which was below the internal target of 98.5%. However, benchmarking analysis demonstrated a mean ranking of 3, meeting the expected performance. Regarding amended reports, internal evaluation showed a mean of 24.4 DPMO, (corresponding to 41 events), exceeding the internal target of zero DPMO. In contrast, benchmarking analysis demonstrated a mean ranking of 3.5, indicating satisfactory performance compared with peer laboratories. The application of benchmarking as a quality management tool proved to be strategic for laboratory performance evaluation by enabling comparative analysis of internal indicators relative to peer institutions. Although some results did not fully achieve the established internal targets, benchmarking analysis demonstrated performance comparable to that observed in peer laboratories, highlighting the importance of external evaluation for a more comprehensive interpretation of quality indicators. Furthermore, the systematic use of comparative indicators facilitated the identification of improvement opportunities, supporting quality management decisions and contributing to continuous process improvement.