institutional research
INSIDE PUBLIC HEALTH
LABORATORIES:
TRACKING THEIR VALUE
The data below are taken from APHL’s 2016 Return
on Investment Pilot Study, in which 11 Public Health
Laboratories (PHLs) provided data on both
expenditures and time allocation of full-time
employees for overall laboratory activities and those
related to newborn screening, PulseNet, tuberculosis,
influenza and safe drinking water.
DISEASE PREVENTION, CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE − 37%
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PORTECTION − 14%
REFERENCE AND SPECIALIZED TESTING − 9%
PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE − 8%
ALLOCATION OF
TECHNICAL
PHL STAFF
INTEGRATED DATA MANAGEMENT − 8%
FOOD SAFTEY − 5%
COMMUNICATION − 5%
TRAINING AND EDUCATION − 5%
LABORATORY IMPROVEMENT AND REGULATION − 4%
RELATED RESEARCH − 2%
POLICY DEVELOPMENT − 2%
TESTS RUN
The testing capacity of a single lab can range enormously and is influenced by factors such as staffing,
budget, and the type and volume of tests required. For example, one laboratorian may run 663 PulseNet
tests in the same amount of time it takes to run 61,654 for newborn screening. The cost of those tests can
also vary widely.
Depending on the size and focus area of the PHL, on average...
1
LABORATORIAN
RUNS BETWEEN
79–18,040
TESTS A YEAR
34
LAB MATTERS Summer 2017
$
10 , 000
7– 950
PAYS FOR BETWEEN
TESTS A YEAR
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org