Types of laboratory

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In most developed countries, there are two main types of lab processing the majority of medical specimens. Hospital laboratories are attached to a hospital, and perform tests on their patients. Private (or community) laboratories receive samples from general practitioners, insurance companies, clinical research sites and other health clinics for analysis. For extremely specialised tests, samples may go to a research laboratory. Some tests involve specimens sent between different labs for uncommon tests. For example, in some cases it may be more cost effective if a particular laboratory specializes in a less common tests, receiving specimens (and payment) from other labs, while sending other specimens to other labs for those tests they do not perform.

In many countries there are specialized types of Medical Laboratories according to the types of investigations carried out. Organisations that provide blood products for transfusion to hospitals, such as The Red Cross, will provide access to their reference laboratory for their customers. Some laboratories specialize in Molecular diagnostic and cytogenetic testing, in order to provide information regarding diagnosis and treatment of genetic or cancer-related disorders.