Healthcare systems are generating more data than ever before. Every day, millions of data points, from test results and utilization patterns to patient clinical histories, flow through laboratories.
Yet despite this volume, much of the intelligence remains locked away in disconnected systems and manual workflows. That fragmentation leads to a costly and persistent problem: clinical waste that erodes both patient outcomes and health system margins.
In my conversations with health system leaders across patient blood management, anemia, women’s health, and lab stewardship programs, the same story repeats. Up to 30% of all lab tests and blood transfusions performed in the United States are considered unnecessary or avoidable.1,2 That represents billions of dollars in wasted resources and exposes patients to potential complications and delayed care. To solve it, healthcare leaders must shift from retrospective reporting to proactive diagnostic stewardship.
Key Takeaways
- Up to 30% of lab tests and blood transfusions in the U.S. are unnecessary or avoidable
- Diagnostic stewardship fails when guidelines cannot reach the clinician at the moment of the order, not because guidelines are missing
- hc1 Clinical IQ™ applies patented, clinician-built AI across Anemia Management, Patient Blood Management, Women’s Health, and Lab Stewardship
- Health systems using this approach have documented a 30% to 50% decrease in blood transfusions
- Average annual savings of $500K to $2M through unnecessary test elimination
The cost of clinical variability
Clinical variability occurs when there is a lack of standardized, evidence-based, data-driven decision-making across providers and locations. Without clear visibility into ordering patterns, health systems struggle to identify duplicate testing, inappropriate workups, and excessive blood utilization.
An incomplete anemia workup during pregnancy might lead to repeated patient visits and delayed surgical procedures. An unnecessary blood transfusion introduces inherent clinical risks and added cost. The challenge is rarely a lack of clinical guidelines, since organizations like the AABB provide robust frameworks.3 What health systems lack is the ability to surface those guidelines seamlessly at the point of care, where they can actually change a clinician’s next decision.
20.6%
of lab tests ordered are clinically inappropriate
$75B+
wasted annually on unnecessary services in U.S. healthcare
90%+
of EHR drug safety alerts are overridden by clinicians
30-50%
decrease in transfusions documented with this approach
Sources: Zhi et al., PLOS ONE 2013; Shrank et al., JAMA 2019; van der Sijs et al., JAMIA 2006; hc1 client results.
The challenge is rarely a lack of clinical guidelines. It is the inability to surface them at the moment they can change a clinician’s next decision.
Why traditional stewardship programs fall short
Most stewardship programs run on a monthly or quarterly review cycle. A utilization committee reviews aggregate data, identifies patterns, and issues guidance to department chairs. That model has three structural failures.
Latency. Clinical decisions happen in real time. A committee that meets monthly cannot interrupt a transfusion ordered this morning for a stable patient who does not meet evidence-based thresholds.
Visibility gaps. Duplicate testing happens across departments and facilities inside the same system. Without integrated cross-system data, a morning ICU team orders a panel the overnight team drew three hours earlier.
Alert fatigue. Stewardship alerts delivered through the EHR are routinely dismissed. Research published in JAMIA found clinicians overrode 90 to 96% of drug safety alerts.4 When alerts fire indiscriminately, the ones that matter disappear into the noise.
Introducing clinician-built AI
To address these challenges, hospitals require more than generic analytics dashboards. They need actionable, agentic intelligence built around the clinical questions that actually move outcomes and cost.
hc1 Clinical IQ™ is designed specifically to translate predictive intelligence into proactive patient care. Across four service lines, the platform leverages patented, clinician-built AI algorithms to continuously analyze EHR data, lab results, and patient records. It identifies anomalies and flags risks before they impact patient outcomes, and before they impact the bottom line.
01
Anemia Management
Flag surgical patients with untreated anemia to reduce transfusion needs.
02
Patient Blood Management
Real-time monitoring against evidence-based transfusion guidelines.
03
HerCare
Identify at-risk maternal patients through real-time EHR lab data monitoring.
04
Lab Stewardship
AI-powered duplicate test detection that cuts costs and improves efficiency across every location and provider.
Instead of waiting for a monthly utilization committee meeting to review stale data, clinical leaders receive near real-time insights. That allows organizations to monitor inappropriate testing, track duplicate test reductions, and measure the impact of their stewardship programs on both patient safety and the bottom line.
| Traditional stewardship | hc1 Clinical IQ™ | |
|---|---|---|
| Data timing | 30 to 90 days old at review | Near real-time |
| Detection | Manual chart audits and sampling | Pattern recognition across every provider and location |
| Alerting | Static rules that fire for everyone | Risk-stratified and grounded in that patient’s own data |
| Intervention | Guidance memo to department chairs | Automated task, outreach, or authorization workflow |
| Measurement | Retrospective committee reporting | Continuous tracking with per-case attribution |
Moving from insight to automated action
Identifying waste is only the first step. The true value of hc1 Clinical IQ™ lies in its ability to automate workflows, close care gaps, and drive intervention where it matters most, at the bedside.
When the AI detects an incomplete diagnostic workup or an overdue screening, it triggers automated actions. That can include sending a secure SMS to a patient, initiating an insurance authorization, or scheduling a follow-up laboratory appointment. By handling the manual administrative burden, the platform allows clinical teams to focus entirely on patient care.
The outcomes are highly measurable, and they matter to both the CMO and the CFO. Health systems utilizing this approach have documented a 30% to 50% decrease in blood transfusions, improved compliance with evidence-based guidelines, and an average of $500K to $2M in annual savings through unnecessary test elimination. A health-system-wide patient blood management program studied in Transfusion reported a 28% reduction in units transfused alongside a significant improvement in patient mortality, which is consistent with what we see in the field.5
A strategic asset for health systems
Diagnostic data is a strategic asset, not an operational byproduct. When properly refined and integrated, it has the power to close care gaps, personalize treatment, and significantly improve hospital margins.
That is the thesis behind our Clinical IQ suite. By embracing AI-powered intelligence across anemia, patient blood management, women’s health, and lab stewardship, healthcare systems can eliminate the friction of disconnected workflows, standardize clinical practice, and ensure every patient receives the precise care they need, at a cost the system can sustain.
See Clinical IQ™ on your own data
See where clinical waste is hiding across anemia, patient blood management, women’s health, and lab stewardship, and how much of it Clinical IQ™ can help you recover.
Frequently asked questions
Which clinical areas does hc1 Clinical IQ™ support?
How is Clinical IQ™ different from the clinical decision support in our EHR?
Does AI replace clinical judgment in diagnostic stewardship?
Jason Carney is SVP, Clinical Strategy at hc1. He is responsible for product development, innovation, and go-to-market strategy for hc1’s Clinical solution portfolio. Jason is the co-developer, co-author, and patent holder for the MyBloodHealth® platform.
References
- Zhi M, Ding EL, Theisen-Toupal J, Whelan J, Arnaout R. The landscape of inappropriate laboratory testing: a 15-year meta-analysis. PLOS ONE. 2013;8(11):e78962.
- Shrank WH, Rogstad TL, Parekh N. Waste in the US Health Care System: Estimated Costs and Potential for Savings. JAMA. 2019;322(15):1501-1509.
- American Association of Blood Banks. Patient Blood Management. 2023. aabb.org
- van der Sijs H, Aarts J, Vulto A, Berg M. Overriding of Drug Safety Alerts in Computerized Physician Order Entry. JAMIA. 2006;13(2):138-147.
- Leahy MF, Hofmann A, Towler S, et al. Improved outcomes and reduced costs associated with a health-system-wide patient blood management program. Transfusion. 2017;57(6):1347-1358.
- Patel R, Fang FC. Diagnostic Stewardship: Opportunity for a Lab-Centered Antimicrobial Stewardship. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2020;71(8):2029-2030.
