For the second year in a row, industry experts predict automation and AI as top clinical laboratory trends in 2025.

By Chris Wolski

Summary: For its final issue of the year, CLP asked over a dozen industry experts to name their top laboratory trends for 2025, identifying 17 predictions and trends to watch.

Takeaways:

Among the top laboratory trends:

  1. Automation and AI Dominate Trends: For the second consecutive year, automation and AI are the top trends, driven by their role in handling increased lab workloads and improving patient care.
  2. Collaborative Innovation: Enhanced collaboration among healthcare leaders and sectors is crucial for addressing patient needs and advancing medical research and diagnostics.
  3. Rise in Specialized Testing: The volume of laboratory tests for antimicrobial resistance, allergies, and autoimmune diseases is increasing, necessitating improved testing methods and efficient lab operations.

For its final issue of the year, CLP asked more than a dozen industry experts to name their top laboratory trends for 2025. Following are the 17 predictions and laboratory trends the respondents identified as the ones they’ll be watching in the upcoming year.

It’s likely not surprising that for the second year in a row, automation and AI have topped the lists of several of the respondents.

There are other returning predictions as well that are making another appearance on this annual list, while new ones related to changes in demographics, advances in testing technology and focus on disease states that appear to be on the rise.

The below list is presented in no particular order of priority.

Laboratory Trend No. 1: Automation Will Play an Increasing Role in all Aspects of the Lab

Ronald Blum, PhD, vice president of science & technology at OmniPathology, cites the COVID pandemic as one of the main drivers of increased use of automation in clinical laboratories and one of the top laboratory trends for 2025.

“Automation systems were widely adopted during the COVID pandemic to handle the incredible volume of SARS-CoV-2 testing that flowed through many labs. These and other systems are now being deployed to handle much of the manual aliquoting and pre-analytical steps in assay work- flows. These automation systems not only help alleviate the reliance on staff, but also provide a more robust, reproduc- ible, and dependable delivery of reagents and samples, improving the quality and reliability of results,” he says. “In addi- tion to improving quality metrics, new technologies are reducing the time of pro- cessing, and significantly improving test turnaround time. For example, numerous companies have emerged with technolo- gies to shorten the time and cost of nucle- ic acid extraction. Additional companies have developed extraction-less systems that further reduce manual steps and time to results.”

Building on Blum’s observations about workforce shortages, Sharon Bracken, head of Diagnostics at Siemens Healthineers, cites a survey of 400 laboratory professionals with 89% of them agreeing that automation is critical for keeping up with demand. But perhaps, more intriguing, is that 95% of those surveyed see automation as key to improving patient care.

“It’s clear that automation is not just a forward-thinking strategy for labora- tory operations, but a necessary evolution to support continued high-quality patient care and offset the implications of prolonged staffing shortages. The survey suggests vacancies will continue to be a challenge, as 28% of laboratory professionals aged 50 years or older indicate plans to retire within the next three to five years,” she observes. “The cost of overlooking automation also is more clearly coming into focus. Fourteen percent of laboratory professionals admit making high-risk errors, such as biohazard exposure or reporting incorrect test results, while 22% report having made low-risk errors, including administrative, documentation, or repeat-testing-related mistakes. Another 29% worry about making errors. What’s also worrisome is that 5% of labo- ratory professionals report their lab has closed for a shift(s) due to understaffing. Closures delay test results and lose rev- enue. Samples requiring urgent attention may need be outsourced, adding extra costs.”

This is where automation comes into play as a benefit to the entire healthcare enterprise.

“New lab automation innovations help sustain critical laboratory operations and free up time for laboratory professionals to pursue activities that benefit the entire health system,” Bracken adds. “The new- est automation offering, for example, can consolidate 25 tasks to reduce hours of work to minutes. With fewer repetitive, manual tasks to handle, laboratory professionals indicate they would reallocate their saved time to training and mentor- ing employees (46%), performing more quality control troubleshooting (42%), and more efficiently managing the test sample process across departments (39%).”

But it isn’t just the automation of routine tasks, according to Bracken. Perhaps, most revolutionary will be what the evolution of integrated, automated machines will bring to clinical labs.

“You will see the implementation of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT): enhanced machine to machine (M2M) communication in the lab—instruments, robots, refrigerated storage, ‘smart’ consumables. And collision-free navigation in a dynamic lab environment with advanced vision and LiDAR systems combined with deep learning algorithms, are expected to take flight,” Bracken predicts. “Regardless of their lab size, automation robotics will enable lab professionals to focus more on collaborative patient care. Embracing automation is essential to foster a sustainable and adaptive laboratory environment that enhances patient care and outcomes.”

Laboratory Trend No. 2: The Impact of AI and Digital Solutions Will Increase

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been top of mind throughout many industries. And, while an aspect of automation—its technological and societal impact could transform all aspects of the way we work, live, and deliver healthcare, including clinical laboratory testing and is why it is among the most cited of the laboratory trends for the coming year.

“I think we will continue to watch AI onboard quickly in many areas of the medical and clinical laboratory and other environments. For example, AI enabled remote patient monitoring (RPM), point- of-care diagnostics collect/interpret real- time data on vital signs, and real-time AI interpretation of laboratory imaging in many med lab areas,” says Rodney E. Rohde, PhD, MS, SM (ASCP)CM, SVCM, MBCM, FACSc Global Fellow, University Distinguished Chair and Regents’ Professor of the Medical Laboratory Science Program at Texas State University, as well as associate director at Translational Health Research Center and associate adjunct professor of Biology at Austin Community College. “I think the professionals in aca- demia and in the medical environment will need to accept that we need to be part of this onboarding, learning, and quality of AI. This includes having our academic programs discuss AI and all its impli- cations with our current students and alumni so that they are prepared to help guide AI into the clinical world.”

While some industries—such as journalism and the film industry—have painted AI as an apocalyptic threat to livelihoods, the experts see significant benefits to this laboratory trend to both laboratorians and the patients they serve.

“AI is playing a critical role in driving innovation, particularly by reducing time- consuming, repetitive tasks that were his- torically performed by humans,” says Yves Dubaquie, SVP of Diagnostics at Revvity. “Looking ahead, we anticipate that AI will suggest reflex testing based on initial test results, which could shorten the diagnos- tic journey and improve diagnostic qual- ity. With AI-enabled faster operations, we expect enhanced accuracy and through- put, enabling clinical laboratories to support clinicians to make critical, time-sen- sitive decisions around the clock.”

Efficiency and innovation are recurring themes in the experts’ predictions and top laboratory trends.

“In 2025, we foresee the life sciences and lab automation industries embracing AI even more deeply, with AI-powered co-scientists revolutionizing both efficiency and innovation in the lab. At Opentrons, AI is not just an enhancement; it’s becoming an integral part of how we automate complex workflows, allowing labs to autonomously optimize protocols and reagent use,” says Opentrons CEO Jonathan Brennan-Badal. “Venture-backed startups are increasingly leveraging AI and large language models (LLMs) on our platform to seamlessly integrate new processes without the need for human intervention.

As we look to the future, these advance- ments will only accelerate, driving greater autonomy and sophistication in scientific research across the globe.”

There are specific ways AI will revolutionize or at least streamline clinical labs. Nathan Buchbinder, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Proscia, notes that image-based and AI-powered biomarkers could transform pathology, driving the delivery of new precision therapies.

“By leveraging advanced machine learn- ing algorithms and vast amounts of real- world data, these biomarkers will identify subtle patterns in pathology images and associated genomic and clinical data that were previously undetectable,” he says. “This evolution promises to improve the targeting of therapies based on a patient’s histopathologic, molecular, and phenotypic characteristics. As AI technology continues to mature, its ability to generate actionable insights from complex datasets will revolutionize fields like oncology and neurology, helping to identify patient sub-groups that stand to benefit from specific treatments and accelerating the development of companion diagnostics and drug pipelines. The demand for efficient, data-driven solutions in healthcare will drive this shift, ushering in a new era of precision healthcare.”

But it’s not just clinical operations that will be improved by AI, business operations will see greater transparency, efficiency, and profitability as a result of artificial intelligence systems, according to the experts.

“We will also start to see how the utili- zation of digital solutions can drive busi- ness performance in central, molecular and pathology labs as well as point-of-care services by turning operational data into actionable insights,” says Brad Moore, president and CEO, Roche Diagnostics North America. “As more digital solutions move to decentralized settings like urgent care centers, physician offices, and emergency rooms, connectivity solutions become essential. These solutions help customers maintain control and efficiently manage instruments and operators. Additionally, they enhance the efficiency of decentralized platforms by keeping software up-to-date and automating the transmission of results.”

LigoLab CEO Suren Avunjian agrees, noting how there will be an increased adoption of AI in laboratory billing processes throughout the coming year.

“Traditionally, laboratory billing has been complex and error-prone due to the intricate nature of medical codes, insurance policies, and regulatory compliance requirements,” he says. “The increased adoption of AI and machine learning (ML) in laboratory billing processes promises to revolutionize this domain by enhancing efficiency, reducing errors, and improving revenue cycles.”

Among the examples of AI-powered billing practices cited by Avunjian:

• Automated data entry and coding
• Interpreting contracts and building rules to manage payer contracts
• Predictive analytics for denial management
• Real-time compliance monitoring
• Enhanced patient experience

AI may also help alleviate the workforce shortage in a surprising way.

“Some of these innovations in digital pathology can make it easier for patholo- gists to do their jobs remotely, creating efficiencies and helping to ease the bur- den in a field that is currently experienc- ing a shortage of these highly trained professionals. New AI-driven algorithms will continue to be developed to increase these efficiencies further,” says Moore.

But for all the benefits that AI may bring to clinical laboratories, the wholesale adoption of artificial intelligence to help with more advanced tasks and diagnostic outcomes may not be as easy as it seems. Blum, who is also a member of CLP’s editorial advisory board, notes there are some potential hurdles clinical labora- tories could face in the short term.

“The use of AI in assisting clinical decision making will continue, but will likely take longer to adopt, due to uncertainty around regulatory, compliance, ethical, and medical concerns,” he says, but “[t] he use of AI in digital pathology will continue to expand and likely become an integral component in the practice of pathology.”

But, while there are legitimate concerns about the use of AI in clinical diagnostics. There are also significant benefits, according to Celine Roger-Dalbert, executive VP research & development at bioMérieux.

“AI is also expanding diagnostic capabilities by delivering faster, actionable results to clinicians with decision support analytics and facilitating the application of existing technologies in new areas such as liquid biopsies or other non-invasive sample types,” she says.

Laboratory Trend No. 3: More Collaborative Innovation

Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and Bracken sees more collaboration among healthcare leaders across the enterprise to meet patient needs.

“It’s increasingly clear that R&D milestones in healthcare are less effective when done in a vacuum,” she says. “For example, patients who undergo genetic testing often are left with answers and the follow-up question, ‘What now?’”

To answer this question, Bracken advocates collaboration at whatever cross-roads they occur—particularly when they point to a clear point forward for care.

“Diagnostic tests provide meaningful information and are of greater clinical use when there is a clear path forward for patient care. This realization is encouraging collaboration between the driving forces in innovation. Whether its collaboration between research institutions and IVD manufacturers, or between pharma and medtech companies for companion diagnostics, there is increasing reliance upon one another to fulfill missing pieces of the patient care puzzle,” she adds. “Together, we’re looking to pinpoint meaningful biomarkers, develop tests at scale that can predict, diagnose, or moni- tor diseases, and materialize therapeutics that can help treat disease.”

Successful collaborations breed the biggest impacts for advancements in patient care, particularly for some of the toughest diseases and conditions that may have had little advances in care over the past several decades, such as MS, Alzheimer’s, or liver disease.

“As R&D and costs for treating advanced disease increase and reimbursement trends downward, we can expect that collaborations will continue, which is a win for patients,” she says.

Laboratory Trend No. 4: Molecular Testing Will Play an Increasing Role in the Fight Against AMR

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the biggest causes of mortality for U.S. patients, and is predicted to be one of the leading causes in the near future. But Jackie Weiss, PhD, scientific affairs liaison for EUROIMMUN US (part of Revvity), predicts that diagnostic testing will play an increasing role in the fight against AMR will be an important laboratory trend in the coming year.

“Molecular testing will continue to be a valuable tool in the fight against AMR. While efforts to curb AMR often focus on antibiotic resistance, the burden of anti-fungal resistances continues to increase. Historically, culture-based methods have been used to assess antifungal susceptibility. However, molecular techniques, such as PCR, produce results up to four weeks earlier than culture. In the case of invasive fungal infections, time is of the essence, as delays in appropriate treatment are linked to increased mortality,” she says. “We will see more movement towards the development and validation of multiplex PCR assays that can rapidly identify the most resistance-associated mutations in clinically relevant fungal species. This is particularly important given the limited number of antifungal drug classes avail- able and the rising incidence of antifungal-resistant infections.”

There’s evidence that autoimmune diseases and allergies are on the rise. While the cause of their increasing occurrence is continuing to be monitored, it’s clear how difficult testing for these diseases can be.

And the volume and difficulty of diagnosing these tests aren’t increasing because of their prevalence, but other critical reasons making clinical laboratories even more important for their diagnosis, according to Jessica Murphy, marketing manager, Systems and Reagents at Thermo Fisher.

“As the number of rheumatologists, allergists, and other specialists graduating from fellowships continues to decline, primary care physicians are taking on a larger share of the responsibility for diagnosing and managing these conditions,” she says. “As a result, the volume of laboratory tests related to autoimmune and allergic diseases is expected to continue rising, placing greater emphasis on the role of laboratory services in guiding appropriate testing and referrals. Primary care providers rely heavily on lab results to make informed decisions about patient care and specialist referrals.”

Learn more: The State of Allergy Testing

Again, automation will need to play a part as will better tests to meet the ever-growing demand.

“Automation will become essential to handle the increased testing volume effi- ciently. Additionally, modifying test profiles and algorithms to cater to specific types of providers and patient populations will help streamline the process,” says Murphy. “Laboratories should also explore opportunities for customizable workflow efficiencies, such as updating system software, optimizing lab layouts, and consolidating instruments.”

Laboratory Trend No. 6: Integration of LIS and Billing Systems Will Become a Fast-Growing Trend

Improving billing is critical in today’s era of tight margins and falling revenues. And one way billing is predicted to be improved, according to Avunjian, is through the integration of laboratory information systems (LIS) and laboratory billing systems.

“This will happen in large part due to the many advantages an all-in-one informatics solution offers clinical labs when compared with traditional multi-system solutions. These labs need to streamline lab workflow management and stop revenue leakage to combat external threats like falling margins, government regula- tions, constantly changing payer requirements, labor shortages, and rising operational costs,” he says. “An all-in-one integrated LIS and RCM platform ensures consistent and accurate data flow from start to finish by maintaining a single source of truth for orders, results, and lab billing information. This eliminates redundant data entry and discrepancies between two systems that result in denials and delayed payments.”

Avunjian makes the case that this laboratory trend will improve business and compliance.

“LIS and RCM integration allows quicker billing and faster reimbursement cycles by linking technical and financial operations while embedding real-time access to third-party services that specialize in patient demographic verification, insurance eligibility, insurance discovery, claim submission, and claim status into a single source of truth platform,” he says. “An all-in-one platform simplifies compliance with regulations like HIPAA and CLIA by ensuring all transactions are traceable and secure while also providing comprehensive analytics and operational insights that the lab can use to eliminate bottlenecks and improve processes.”

Integration will also reduce IT maintenance costs and eliminates the need for multiple licenses, further reducing administrative overhead, while, unsurprisingly, maximizing automation, according to Avunjian.

“An integrated LIS and RCM platform is also much more adaptable to changes in billing codes, regulatory requirements, demographic changes, and lab services, all of which better supports lab growth and scalability when compared against multi-system solutions,” he adds. “By integrating the LIS system and lab billing workflow into one source of truth backed by automation, labs can truly help themselves by improving efficiency, accuracy, compliance, and financial performance.”

Laboratory Trend No. 7: Self-Collection of Cervical Samples Will Increase HPV and Cancer Screening Rates

Of all changes that were seen in 2024, the approval by the FDA for self-collection of vaginal swabs may have been one of the most positively impactful for women’s health—potentially improving testing and treatment access for HPV and cervical cancer.

“When we bring testing physically closer to the patient, we can broaden access to care and potentially help improve overall patient outcomes. This is especially important when barriers, such as cultural back- grounds, access to screening and stigma, prevent necessary screenings from occurring. HPV testing is already progressing in this direction, with the recent FDA approval of a self-collection solution that allows women and people with a cervix to collect their own samples privately in a healthcare setting,” says Moore. “This is especially important for certain populations that are more vulnerable to cervical cancer than others. Solutions like this could potentially assist in lessening health disparities in cervical cancer, which are more prevalent among Black women and Hispanic-Latina women. Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer, yet they have the highest death rates compared to all other racial and ethnic groups due to profound survival disparities, which may be attributed to a lack of access to timely, high-quality care.”1

Nikos Pavlidis, worldwide president of BD Diagnostic Solutions, sees self-collection as an important step in eliminating cervical cancer.

“Cervical cancer is preventable, HPV is the cause of virtually all cervical can- cer and screening plays a crucial role in early detection and prevention,” he notes. “Couple that with the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology announcement that their new guidelines for HPV extended genotyping plan to recognize not only the superior risk stratification compared to a pooled high-risk result that most clinicians get today, but also that this innovative technology enables persistence tracking of more individual HPV strains which confers a much higher risk of cervical precancer, and we may well be on the path to eliminating cervical cancer in our lifetimes.”

Laboratory Trend No. 8: The Aging Population Will Change the Focus of Healthcare

As with all advanced economies, the U.S. population is aging, and Rohde predicts this will result in a significant impact on laboratory medicine.

“I think we will see a paradigm shift in laboratory medicine that will be further underscored by advancements in person- alized medicine and enhanced molecu- lar diagnostics,” he says. “Tailoring treatments based on an individual’s genetic makeup and lifestyle may begin to lead personalized medicine, promising more precise diagnoses, and treatments. Due to our changing demographic of age—by 2034, those 65 years of age and older are projected to outnumber children under the age of 18 and by 2060 nearly one in four Americans will be at least 65 years old—our healthcare professionals must be prepared to meet this growing segment of needs in services.”

Roger-Dalbert also sees the aging population and the concurrent rise in chronic diseases pushing healthcare to more personalized treatments.

“Rising rates of chronic diseases like cardiovascular issues and diabetes are driven by aging populations and obesity,” she says. “Additionally, autoimmune diseases and cancer, which are increasing the number of immunosuppressed individuals, are leading to a higher demand for diagnostic solutions due to elevated risks of sepsis and infections. A focus on personalized medicine and wellness is becoming more prominent, tailoring treatment to individual lifestyles, genetics, and hereditary factors. Diagnostics play a crucial role in customizing patient management.”

Laboratory Trend No. 9: There Will Likely be Substantial Changes to LDT Regulations

The recent change to laboratory-developed test (LDT) regulations, categorizing them as medical devices, has put regulatory oversight squarely in the hands of the FDA.

Blum notes that these changes have “shaken” the industry, prompting legal action against the federal agency. That being said, Blum predicts change in the air for LDT regulations in 2025.

“Recent court rulings appear to bode well in support of viewing the FDA’s actions as an overreach of their author- ity, but the debate has been ongoing for decades, and the result will likely be strongly influenced by whomever wins the presidential election in November,” he says. “The current administration has been favorable to the FDA whereas the Trump administration was not. Despite whoever sits in the White House, there likely will be significant changes in the regulation of LDTs.” [EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written prior to the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.]

If the regulations are repealed, he predicts that it won’t be before the enforcement goes into effect in May 2025.

“As the healthcare community delves deeper into the impact of the FDA rule, the complexities and nuances of how the rule applies to testing are enormous, with major negative impacts to innovation and patient care,” he says. “Furthermore, this ruling significantly adds to the reluctance of investors to commit resources to labo- ratories, at a time when labs need it the most, and when innovation can greatly improve the efficiency and quality of patient care, while in many cases, reducing costs.”

Laboratory Trend No. 10: Proficiency Testing Will Become a Focus for Laboratories

Revisions to the CLIA PT quality specifications—the first since 1992—are extensive. With 80 of the 101 specifications seeing updates. Of these 29 are new analytes and 51 have been updated with the more stringent requirements.

John C. Yundt-Pacheco, senior, principal scientist/scientific fellow at Bio-Rad Laboratories, predicts that evaluating how a lab will perform under the new quality requirements will likely be a laboratory trend in 2025.

“Performance in interlaboratory peer groups has long been a way to predict PT performance. Both interlaboratory peer programs and PT programs use the mean of the participants to set the target. Unfortunately, the most common analysis consists of computing lab bias against the peer and an assessment of imprecision, without the context of the PT quality specifications,” he says. “We anticipate the industry will start to move toward a trend of directly predicting the risk of producing results outside of PT specifications, mod- eled directly from the lab and peer group performance metrics.”

Laboratory Trend No. 11: Greater Awareness of Hemolysis

For 2025, Kristina Powell, director of marketing, Acute Care Diagnostics at Werfen, predicts there will be a greater awareness of hemolysis and its impact in blood gas testing.

“Hemolysis is the No. 1 source of pre-analytical error and can impact potassium results and patient care. Preanalytical errors can affect the integrity of results in whole blood samples tested at the point of care. Hemolysis accounts for up to 70% of all pre-analytical errors and, while prevalent throughout the hospital, is often unrecognized. This can negatively impact potassium results and patient care,” she says. “While better training is needed to reduce hemolysis rates, rapid hemo- lysis detection on whole blood in point of care blood gas testing is critical, and a new solution has been introduced to achieve this. Through broad educational programs, more hospitals will learn about this new technology and adopt it, to help ensure the quality of their whole blood potassium results at the point of care.”

Laboratory Trend No. 12: The Age of Omics is Here

Genetic testing of all types is going to be critical in the ongoing rise of precision medicine, according to Rohde.

“The age of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics [and] other omics is here,” he says. “We will continue to see significant progress in genetics, genomics, and molecular medicine which will likely pave the way for personalized and precision medicine. Everyone’s genetic makeup, environmental factors, and life- style choices could be analyzed to develop tailored treatment plans and preventive measures.”

Learn More: How Omics Technology Bolsters Precision Medicine

Laboratory Trend No. 13: Laboratory Consolidation Will Continue

One of the big laboratory trends in 2024 was laboratory consolidation. Blum predicts this will continue without pause in 2025.

“COVID testing resulted in an unprec- edented surge of new laboratories open- ing from 2020 to 2022. However, that trend reversed itself when the demand for COVID testing dropped sharply. Many newly formed labs attempted to pivot to perform molecular syndromic panel testing but ran into difficulties with reimbursement depending on where in the country they were located, e.g., MolDX and MACs, as well as, dealing with the realization that with non-COVID lab testing, the logistics, reporting, and billing is extremely complex, expensive, and nuanced,” he says. “This year saw a continued aggregation of labs by various entities looking to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, while expanding their offerings, and leveraging their negotiation power with payers and future buyers. With the added headwinds of the FDA LDT rule, decreasing reimbursements, and a troubled economy, it is likely these consolidation trends will continue.”

Blum also cites other factors as fueling the trend toward consolidation.

“With PAMA, the FDA LDT ruling, staffing shortages, and fewer independent physicians, labs will continue to consolidate. M&A will continue by the largest labs, as well as independent enterprises which are looking to acquire both pathol- ogy laboratories as well as routine and esoteric labs,” he says. “The goals of these enterprises is a consolidation and standardization across the individual laboratories, in hopes of creating a network that offers bigger efficiencies, access to data, patients, and payer contracts and then utilizing advances in IT and AI to generate an enterprise that offers unique value.”

Laboratory Trend No. 14: There Will be Significant Advancements in Point-of-Care Testing

One of the sea changes that came out of COVID was the explosive expansion of point-of-care testing. And this trend will continue in 2025 and beyond, according to Seth Egan, chief commercialization officer at Co-Diagnostics.

“In the next five to 10 years, we anticipate substantial progress in point-of-care testing (POCT). In the U.S., the use and availability of high-quality diagnostic testing for common illnesses at the point of care, and of convenient, at-home testing cou- pled with increased use of telehealth, will become a pathway to more accessible care,” he says. “This approach will protect vulnerable individuals from exposure to illnesses in crowded waiting rooms and provide relief for capacity-constrained emergency departments.”

POCT in low- and middle-income countries have the potential to transform healthcare delivery and close care gaps, says Egan.

“New diagnostic tools that are designed for use in remote settings may be able to dramatically improve access to services in underserved areas where there are critical, unmet needs,” he predicts. “Over the next decade, we expect an even greater push to close the diagnostics access gap—bridging the divide between those who need these diagnostics and their access to them.”

More critical to the ever-increasing expansion of the use of point-of-care tests is the types of tests being developed. Pavlidis predicts that more testing types will be available.

“Another emerging trend is the expansion of point-of-care diagnostics beyond respiratory illnesses to include sexually transmitted infections,” he says. “Getting test results quickly and feeling confident that the results are reliable and accurate can not only help prevent the spread of infection, but also alleviate the patient’s stress and anxiety that can come with long wait-times for results and concerns about false positives or negatives.”

Laboratory Trend No. 15: Viscoelastic Testing Will Be Utilized to Preserve the Blood Supply

Diagnostic testing could mean improving resource utilization while providing better treatment of patients, particularly when it comes to blood transfusion, according to Powell.

“I predict the adoption of enhanced strategies and solutions to help improve blood utilization, following another year of critical blood product shortages,” she says. “Since the World Health Organization issued a policy brief stating that patient blood management programs could potentially improve the lives of hundreds of millions of patients around the world, we are seeing more hospitals across the country implementing such initiatives. In 2025, I anticipate that more patient blood management programs utilizing point-of-care viscoelastic testing will be initiated, enabling healthcare providers to reduce unnecessary transfusions, healthcare costs, and complication rates.”

Laboratory Trend No. 16: Mass Spectrometry Will Improve Automated Workflows and Patient Access

Automated and integrated mass spectrometry will show the potential to trans- form laboratories’ workflows from highly technical, skilled labor-intensive processes to increased patient access with timely, accurate results, predicts Moore.

“With new generations coming to market, clinical laboratories can utilize it as a complementary tool to routine testing to improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic testing that can provide labs with more rapid and accurate test results,” he says. “Through actionable clinical insights generated by mass spectrom- etry, physicians will be able to diagnose diseases faster and help create immediate personalized therapeutic interventions.”

Laboratory Trend No. 17: More Best Practices Will be Adopted to Manage Recovery after Out-of-Control Events

Out-of-control events can cause significant headaches for labs and clinicians alike. Yundt-Pacheco sees the industry taking more steps to help manage recovery after an event occurs.

“I think we will see increased adoption of best practices such as: estimating how many patient samples are likely to be outside quality specifications given the magnitude of the error condition; iden- tifying the point of failure; suggesting a recovery approach – either spot checking a critical list of samples or back-testing; guidance on how much back-testing is required; and which samples need correction,” he says.

While there is little doubt we will see some of these trends in part or in whole, there is no guarantee any of them will in fact come to pass.

But if the past is any guide, some—if not most—of these points will be trends that we’ll be talking about throughout 2025 and beyond. 

Chris Wolski is the chief editor of CLP.

References

1. Cohen CM, Wentzensen N, Castle PE, et al. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cervical Cancer Incidence, Survival, and Mortality by Histologic Subtype. J Clin Oncol. 2023;10;41(5):1059-1068. doi:10.1200/JCO.22.01424.