The PLUGS Podcast aims to empower healthcare providers, clinical laboratories, insurance plans, and patients by enhancing lab stewardship. Laboratory stewardship has five key improvement goals: 1) enhanced access to testing, 2) appropriate and accurate test ordering, 3) timely retrieval of test results, 4) correct result interpretation, and 5) financial alignment between patients, labs and payers. Financial alignment means that patients are protected from financial toxicity, labs are paid fairly, and insurance companies do not pay for wasteful test practices.
Through insightful discussions, expert guidance, and valuable resources, the PLUGS Podcast is dedicated to supporting all stakeholders in navigating the complexities of clinical lab stewardship, ultimately promoting both better patient outcomes and financial security.
PLUGS Live at the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM)
Summary. This episode of the PLUGS podcast was recorded live at ADLM 2026. PLUGS members came to the PLUGS tradeshow booth to post questions on our question board and participate in live Q&A. The answers were provided by University of Washington faculty as well as PLUGS members. Popular topics were covered, and there were fun interactions. Relax and have a listen. Episode Index 2:00 - CBCs: Asking for too many Pathologist reviews 5:00 - Too much serum folate testing 7:00 - Improved naming...
22 May 2026
AI in Lab Medicine and Lab Stewardship: Timesaver, Gamechanger, Panic-maker
Summary. In this episode of the PLUGS podcast, Mike Astion interviews Dr. Geoff Baird about AI in the Lab. Over the last year, Geoff and a few other University of Washington faculty members have been intensely studying and implementing AI in daily work. Geoff is on a quest to integrate AI into the UW Dept of Laboratory and Pathology. In this podcast, we discuss key aspects of this work. We first focus on some practical uses of AI that will resonate with PLUGS members. Then, Geoff ventures int...
26 Mar 2026
Conflict Management and Apology in Laboratory Stewardship
In this 11th edition of the PLUGS podcast, Drs. Jane Dickerson, Mike Astion and Geoff Baird work through cases of conflict management and apology related to laboratory stewardship. The cases come from PLUGS members and add depth to our recent PLUGS National Webinar on the same topic. The cases cover disruptive physicians, structured apologies, overly large test panels, special test requests, point-of-care testing, screaming in the car, and much more. Have a listen. Learning Objectives: List ...
26 Jan 2026
Laboratory Genetic Counselors to the Rescue
In this 10th edition of the PLUGS podcast Dr. Mike Astion interviews Paige Haas and Darci Sternen, who are Laboratory Genetic Counselors in the Dept of Laboratories at Seattle Childrens Hospital. Paige and Darci are active in our clinical laboratory practice and in our PLUGS program where they are involved in helping clients, providing education, and in policy making. The conversation with Darci and Paige covers a number of topics including differentiating the role of Lab genetic counselors f...
1 Dec 2025
14 years of PLUGS: Lessons, Relationships, and Progress
In this holiday edition of the PLUGS podcast, Drs. Jane Dickerson, Mike Astion and Geoff Baird reflect on the history and learnings from PLUGS, as well as from the stewardship practices at the University of Washington, Seattle Childrens and PLUGS members around the country. We also give PLUGS its first official mascot, and draw analogies between PLUGS, TV Shows and Sports. Enjoy and thanks for being part of the story. Learning Objectives: 1. Identify key strategies for building interdiscipli...
26 Sept 2025
Huge Test Panels in the Search for Personal Purity
In this episode of the PLUGS podcast, Drs. Mike Astion and Geoff Baird discuss the massive testing panels associated with the belief that the environment –through its many metals, biotoxins, microbes, and allergens—is a significant source of unresolved signs and symptoms. The time stamped highlights are listed below. 00: 00 Defining the quest for purity. 07:00 Are the providers true believers, or is this quackery? 14:00 Are the patients psychiatric or is this simply dissatisfaction w...
17 Jul 2025
Incompetence Beepers, Lampshade Hats, Kindergarten Probability Classes, Happy False Positives, and Labs Driving Healthcare Off the Fiscal Cliff
In this episode of the PLUGS podcast, Drs. Mike Astion and Geoff Baird discuss some foundational principles in lab stewardship and management. Give a listen. PLUGS Website: https://www.schplugs.org/ MTS Website https://medtraining.org/
13 May 2025
Medical – Legal Collaboration to Improve Laboratory Stewardship
In this episode, Dr. Geoff Baird and I interview Elizabeth Pendo, the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and the Kell-eye Y Testy Professor of Law at the University of Washington School of Law. Our topic is medical legal collaboration to improve laboratory stewardship. Dean Pendo has a broad experience in health care law that includes years of legal practice in the private and public sector, as well as a noteworthy academic career. Her legal work, teaching, and academic publications e...
10 Apr 2025
Live from the PLUGS Summit: Egregious Overutilization, Maintaining the Lab’s Power, “Free” Testing; Stewardship Tips, and More
This version of the podcast was recorded live at the PLUGS Summit in Seattle Washington on April 4, 2025. As part of the Summit, we invited attendees to a PLUGS podcast recording on the second day of the Summit. The goal was to discuss issues raised at the Summit and answer questions from attendees. Our discussion covered a range of topics including fraud and other causes of egregious overutilization; maintaining the lab’s agency within a healthcare system; the good and evil of fr...
11 Feb 2025
Improving Test Interpretation through Personal Reference Ranges, AI and Statistical Literacy
In this episode of the PLUGS Podcast, Dr. Mike Astion and Dr. Geoff Baird interview Dr. Brody Foy, a mathematician and computer scientist who researches practical improvements in interpreting clinical lab data. Dr. Foy discusses the practical use of personal reference ranges, the potential overemphasis on omics vs common testing, why Mike should not hate the future, AI in lab medicine, AI safety, the problem of statistical illiteracy in test interpretation, and, of course, how “my mother medi...
16 Jan 2025
Navigating the Lab Data Marketplace: Opportunities, Logistics, Risks, Rewards
Drs. Mike Astion and Geoff Baird interview Bridget Wegner, Director of Partnerships at Clarivate, on leveraging lab data to accelerate drug development and make rare diseases treatments more accessible.
20 Nov 2024
California Dreamin': Improving Lab Stewardship at UCLA with Dr. Allison Chambliss
Dr. Allison Chambliss shares actionable strategies for enhancing laboratory stewardship, including optimizing reference lab testing and reducing duplicate orders, to improve patient care at UCLA Health.
26 Sept 2024
Terrible People or Terrible Choices? Characteristics of Bad Ideas in Lab Stewardship and How to Avoid Them
Dr. Mike Astion from Seattle Children's Hospital and the University of Washington (UW) hosts a podcast about the root causes of bad ideas in lab stewardship, featuring Dr. Geoffrey Baird, the Chair of the UW Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. They discuss such root causes as the Halo effect and other forms of false expertise; financial conflicts of interest; and "truthiness", which is the idea that something must be true because it sounds like it should be true, even when ...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
302,562
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 26 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
3
Social presence
0
YouTube
93
Engagement
32
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