The $1.2 million lab makeover

How do you stay profitable in the face of government cuts in health care?

At Fort Myers-based cancer testing firm NeoGenomics, you spend money to boost productivity. “We are in an environment we're going to have to do more with less money in health care,” says Douglas VanOort, chairman and CEO.

In the first quarter, VanOort says the number of cancer tests per employee rose 12% and the cost per test fell 7%. The company reported it earned $102,000 on revenues of $18.2 million in the first quarter.
To boost productivity, VanOort says NeoGenomics analyzes every step in its labs in an ongoing effort to identify areas of improvement. The company recently completed a $1.2 million makeover of the Fort Myers laboratory.

“There's not a thing inside that building that hasn't been changed,” VanOort says. “In Fort Myers it's really driven by automation and workflow design.”

Productivity gains could continue in the 8% to 10% range, though it may be difficult to pinpoint by exactly how much. That's because VanOort says these efforts are now ingrained in the company's culture. “Once you decide that you want to continuously improve things and do a better job for your clients, you unleash all this energy, and it's sometimes difficult to project where it's going to lead you. We can continue to make productivity gains for many, many years,” he says.