Near patient testing

Near patient (NPT), or point of care (POC), testing has been a part of medicine since at least the time of Thomas Willis (1621-1675) who wrote of tasting urine for the detection of glycosuria. NPT has become a key component of primary care medicine representing twenty percent of all testing in the United States. Yet despite much of the obvious promise of NPT, it has evoked great debate in the literature as to its true effectiveness and efficiency. In an era of greater financial stringency, the cost effectiveness of all laboratory testing is under the spotlight and the role that NPT should play is being reappraised. The purpose of this document is to provide a framework for a discussion of, and the provision of, arrangements for NPT.