PA Consulting patent paves way for Point of Care testing

25 June 2019 Consulting.us

Innovation and transformation consulting firm PA Consulting has been granted a US patent for its Point of Care (PoC) testing platform. PoC testing refers to medical testing carried out at the time and place of patient care, as opposed to a laboratory, which requires samples to be collected and sent away, resulting in prolonged wait times and potential delays in appropriate care.

PA Consulting’s platform is constructed around its Exacsys technology, which improves accuracy of PoC testing. It allows for simple testing that will support clinical decision-making, therapy selection and personalization, and home monitoring of medical conditions.

By measuring time and concentration of a chemical indicator, the test is able to analyze a clinical sample such as blood to determine whether a patient requires treatment for a range of diagnoses, including infection. The test is similar to those used to monitor blood glucose or test for pregnancy. It is low-cost, offers an established medical approach, and has the potential to be extremely functional for a variety of conditions.

The patent comes at an opportune time for PA Consulting, as the PoC market is booming. A recent report by Grand View Research, Inc. showed it is expected to reach $22.8 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate of 3%. Automated laboratory systems are increasingly being integrated into medical workflows, fueling PoC and its related technology.

Its low cost – coupled with its ability to rapidly and accurately detect or monitor diseases and other medical conditions – makes PoC testing even more appealing, especially as healthcare pricing remains in the social and political spotlight in the United States. As such, companies and firms are eager to offer consumers methods by which medical care can be made more cost-effective and time-efficient.

Relatedly, a PA Consulting study showed the benefits of value-based care, which links processes, structures, and reimbursement to patient outcomes, as opposed to the traditional “fee-for-service” model, which creates incentives for frequent care – often at the literal cost of patients.

According to PA Consulting, transitioning to value-based care is highly beneficial to both organizations and patients. Of the 207 organizations that made some progress in pivoting to value-based care in the past year, 75% saw a general improvement in clinical outcomes, and 65% saw a reduction in care-related complications.