The four pillars of diagnostic intelligence to improve health outcomes and increase smarter spending for value-based care success

Pillar #1: Revealing care gaps hidden in fragmented diagnostic data

Diagnostic data has strategic value that extends far beyond the test result itself. The challenge lies in access, as many organizations lack visibility into results ordered by providers outside their network. These external results create blind spots, delaying interventions, obscuring true risk and limiting quality performance.

Labcorp’s national patient and results data feed—powered by over 45 billion lab results from more than 150 million patients representing approximately half of the U.S. population—helps close those visibility gaps by integrating external data into population health and care management platforms. The feed provides a network-wide view of lab results regardless of ordering provider or site of care, giving organizations the interoperability and real-time visibility needed to uncover unmanaged conditions, understand chronic disease progression and address missing information impacting quality and care planning. 

We integrate diagnostic data from multiple sources into your existing care workflows, providing a powerful engine for closing gaps in care and increasing provider productivity and efficiency. A complete longitudinal patient profile reveals trends, risk factors and early signs of disease progression that may otherwise go unnoticed. 

This enables organizations to prioritize outreach, intervene earlier and deliver targeted care to patients who need it most—strengthening quality performance while reducing unnecessary utilization.

Pillar #2: Using diagnostic trends to identify rising clinical risk earlier

In value-based care, success depends on seeing risk before it becomes costly. Early identification and intervention can prevent disease progression, reduce avoidable utilization and improve both outcomes and shared-savings performance. 

As highlighted in Labcorp’s coding and risk-adjustment case study, lab data is often the earliest and most objective signal of rising patient risk—making it central to high-cost patient identification in value-based care. A large provider network used Labcorp Insight Analytics® to identify thousands of diabetes and CKD patients whose clinical risk was rising but not fully recognized in existing documentation. 

By surfacing abnormal A1c and eGFR trends, Insight Analytics helped the organization pinpoint patients at higher clinical and financial risk—those most likely to drive avoidable cost if left unmanaged. Reconciling these gaps and aligning clinical documentation to verified lab results uncovered a potential $14 million annual impact.

Pillar #3: Delivering real-time diagnostic insight at the point of care

Timely interventions change outcomes—and the opportunity to alter a patient’s trajectory depends on data reaching providers when it matters most. Diagnostics play a critical role in that equation. 

When lab insights are available in real time at the point of care, providers can act sooner, reduce unnecessary utilization and avoid repeat or redundant testing. Labcorp Diagnostic Assistant® helps make this possible. 

Embedded directly in leading electronic health record (EHR) platforms through Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based interoperability standards, Diagnostic Assistant® provides clinicians with a complete, longitudinal view of their patients’ lab history, including results ordered by other providers or across different care settings. This visibility supports better decision-making, eliminates the need to reorder tests and streamlines care coordination.

In value-based arrangements where providers are accountable for the total cost of care, access to timely diagnostic data can mean the difference between reactive care and proactive management. To be effective, these insights must reach clinicians and care teams within their existing workflows. With the right information at the right moment in the right platform, clinicians can intervene earlier, close care gaps faster and ultimately change the trajectory of patient health.

Pillar #4: Guiding equitable access strategies with community-level data

As organizations deepen their value-based care strategies, success depends not only on improving outcomes and lowering costs, but it also depends on making sure progress reaches every population. Laboratory data is one of the most objective, scalable sources for uncovering inequities in access, prevention and chronic disease management.

Each test result provides insight into who’s receiving care, who’s missing recommended services and which communities face systemic barriers. Despite ongoing efforts, disparities continue to drive avoidable costs and uneven outcomes across the country:

• More than 100 million Americans lack reliable access to primary care, with the burden disproportionately concentrated in underserved communities
• Screening and chronic-disease monitoring rates are significantly lower in neighborhoods with a high area deprivation index (ADI)
• Preventable chronic disease—driven by inequities in access, navigation and follow-up—contributes heavily to the nation’s $4.1 trillion healthcare spend

Labcorp Insight Analytics® transforms diagnostic data into actionable community insight. With ADI-linked, geo-coded lab data, a community health dashboard reveals where disease burden and social vulnerability converge and helps organizations prioritize resources accordingly.

Health systems and payers can benchmark populations, pinpoint unmet needs and evaluate the impact of access initiatives—whether planning new clinic sites, deploying mobile units, expanding at-home testing or tailoring outreach to meet community needs.

By turning laboratory data into community-level insight, Labcorp helps organizations move beyond awareness to measurable, sustained action—making equitable care achievable, accountable and aligned with the goals of value-based care.

Case studies demonstrating success 

Several case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of diagnostics in value-based care: 

• One of the largest IPAs in one state partnered with Labcorp to better manage CKD and quickly uncovered major gaps in coding and referrals. With Labcorp’s analytics, they identified uncoded stage 3 CKD patients, improved care pathways and secured additional value-based reimbursement, driving a meaningful financial impact in year one.
• A large federally qualified health center (FQHC) network collaborated with Labcorp to optimize testing efficiency and improve patient care. Using Insight Analytics®, the network viewed utilization reports for tests of interest based on national guidelines and best practices, allowing the network to eliminate $84,000 in unnecessary testing expenses in the first year.
• A large IPA in one state partnered with Labcorp to conduct yearly fecal occult blood test gap closure programs, achieving a 30%-40% return rate in closing screening gaps. By leveraging Labcorp's data to identify patients with screening gaps and coordinate distribution of fecal immunochemical test (FIT) home collection kits, the IPA could have recognized over $1 million in incentive payments in closing these care gaps.
• A large, national health plan with over two million lives wanted to increase colon cancer screening rates, especially with their members in hard-to-reach geographical regions. Working with Labcorp, they found a flexible and cost-effective specimen collection kit and process that produced a 2.6x higher return rate. 

These case studies demonstrate improved compliance, reduced downstream costs and supported quality measure performance across diverse populations.