Medical laboratory industry — 2007: Olympus VP Stephen Wasserman shares his views - In the Eyes of the Experts - interview

Medical Laboratory Observer, Dec, 2002 by C. Anne Pontius

As a group vice president of Olympus America Inc., Stephen Wasserman is responsible for all activities in North America relating to the Olympus Diagnostic Systems Group. Prior to joining Olympus in 1997, Mr. Wasserman was with Datascope Corp. as president of the Patient Monitoring Division, vice president of finance, and chief financial officer of the company. Earlier in his career, he served as a vice president of the N.Y. Blood Center and general manager of its Melville Biologics Division, and as vice president and general manager of the Diagnostic Systems Division for Technicon Instruments Corp. He was a founding director of the N.Y. Biotechnology Association, and now serves on the board of the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative. A CPA, he is a graduate of the City College of New York, Baruch School of Business.

Anne Pontius: What single factor do you believe will have the biggest impact on the laboratory industry over the next five years?

Stephen Wasserman: All clinical laboratories, especially those within hospitals, will continue to face unwavering pressure to reduce costs and improve turnaround time and productivity. This, combined with the further shortage of adequately trained staff, will have significant ramifications over the next five years.

Pontius: Professional laboratory associations assert that the industry is facing a growing personnel shortage that may not ease for several years. How does your business strategy take the personnel shortage into consideration?

Wasserman: The Olympus product strategy is based on two key principles: standardization and automation. These principles provide our customers -- hospitals, core and commercial laboratories -- with the tools necessary to deal with the personnel shortage. These principles also increase productivity and decrease operating costs. Standardization as it applies to the Olympus AU series chemistry-immuno analyzers includes identical operating systems; standardized results and reference ranges; and the same calibrators, controls, reagents, consumables, and parts. From the laboratories' perspective, this standardization reduces startup and training time, expedites cross-training, and promotes across-the-board ease of operation as well as cost-saving inventory management.

In addition, the Olympus Lab Automation (OLA) systems allow labs to integrate timesaving, cost-effective automation into their pre- and postanalytical operations. Manual sample-handling processes are labor-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to high error rates. Our open, flexible systems automate sample sorting, decapping, aliquotting, and archiving -- preserving sample integrity, while reducing labor costs and turnaround time. The OLA product line includes task-targeted modular systems, as well as integration of sample processing and analysis into a single, automated workcell to increase productivity and efficiency for medium- and high-volume laboratories. Our stand-alone lab automation systems are capable of processing samples for the varied needs of differing instrument models and functional lab areas.

Olympus is also starting new initiatives to extend our outreach and sponsorship programs through the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA) and various MT organizations to attract and drive more people into the profession.

Pontius: What types of new testing technologies do you expect will be available in the clinical laboratory of the future?

Wasserman: There are several new tests relying on molecular diagnostics that are important in identifying diseases more quickly and, when combined with pharmacogenomics, should provide more responsive cure rates. However, these new technologies will not supplant the need for traditional laboratory testing. Standard medical care will still require routine screening, and patients' metabolic conditions will need to be monitored during therapy -- even with molecular diagnostic testing.

Pontius: The mainstream market for your equipment is hospitals, commercial labs, and blood donor centers. Does Olympus plan to make products specifically for other market segments?

Wasserman: Our goal has always been focused on providing high-quality, cost-effective diagnostic testing solutions for hospitals, integrated health delivery networks, blood banks, POLs, reference labs, and pharmaceutical labs.

We are always researching new growth opportunities. Our current plan is to expand our reach into other laboratory segments that can best benefit from further automation, such as hospital blood banks. We are beginning clinical evaluations on the Tango, the next addition to our blood bank product line. Our benchtop unit will perform blood group determination; antibody screening, identification, and titration; and compatibility testing.

Pontius: How much is the new technology dependent or independent of automation? How important will automation be to lab technology over the next five years?

Wasserman: We believe technology is automation-dependent. Laboratories need hands-off processing to achieve further productivity gains. Olympus analyzers incorporate full automation in their design and function and may be used as stand-alone units or integrated into a total lab automation track system.