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All laboratory tests performed within the province of Alberta in Canada are captured by three Laboratory Information Systems (LIS; Millennium, Sunquest and Meditech), which comprise the provincial Consolidated Laboratory Data Repository (CLDR). The following secondary laboratory data for electrolyte panel (EP) and complete blood count (CBC) test panels performed in emergency room (ER) and inpatient settings were collected from January 1 – December 31, 2018: total test panel volume, total number of test panels repeated, number of test panels repeated within the 24 hour period, test result, date of testing, time of test, and patient Provincial Health Number (PHN). Patient PHN were used as a linking variable to match subsequent tests performed on the same patient. The first time a test was recorded per patient was defined as the “index test”. If the same test panel was performed within a 24-h period following the index test for the patient, data for the repeated test panel was also collected. The index test was defined as “normal” or “abnormal” according to established laboratory normal values and laboratory test reference ranges. For CBCs, we considered the panel to be abnormal if any of the hematocrit (Hct), hemoglobin (Hgb), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), platelet (PLT), red blood cell (RBC), red cell distribution width (RDW) or white blood cell (WBC) values were outside the normal laboratory reference range. For electrolyte panels, we considered the panel to be abnormal if any of the chloride (Cl), potassium (K), and sodium (Na) were outside of the normal laboratory reference range. All EP results were from clinical chemistry analyzers only. The reuse potential of this dataset can allow other jurisdictions in Canada to compare their redundant repeat testing in their hospital settings with this dataset as a benchmark. This article was submitted via another Elsevier journal as a co-submission (“Inappropriate repeat testing of complete blood count (CBC) and electrolytes in inpatients from Alberta, Canada” [1]), and readers should refer to the co-submission article for interpretation of the results. Keywords: Laboratory utilization, Repeat testing, Complete blood count, Electrolyte panel, Laboratory medicine, Health informatics

The data presented in this article is the provincial vitamin B12 test volume data for Alberta, Canada per month between April 1, 2015 and April 30, 2018. This data set was collected from the three different Alberta Public Laboratories Laboratory Information Systems: Cerner Millennium for Calgary, Sunquest for Edmonton, and MediTech for the remaining rural zones of Alberta (Bonnyville, Grand Prairie, Camrose, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat). An educational province-wide intervention aimed at reducing redundant testing was implemented on April 11, 2017 in Calgary, Alberta and Edmonton, Alberta and on May 2, 2017 in rural Alberta sites. All vitamin B12 test results in Alberta were appended with the educational comment “A normal test result indicates adequate stores and should not be repeated. However, if specific clinical situations require re-testing, the interval should not be sooner than 1 year.” Provincial monthly test volumes prior to this intervention ranged from 54,182 to 73,522 tests per month and after this intervention ranged from 59,116 to 74,006 tests per month. The total number of vitamin B12 tests ordered over the 37 months in Alberta was 2,444,724; 690,448 tests were ordered in Calgary, 1,029,315 tests were ordered in Edmonton, and 724,961 tests were ordered in rural sites. This data article was submitted as a companion paper to the related research article, “Implementation of an educational province-wide intervention to reduce redundant vitamin B12 testing: a cross-sectional study”[1]. Keywords: Vitamin B12, Laboratory utilization, Inappropriate testing, Laboratory medicine, Pathology informatics

This data incorporates 2016 testing volumes ordered by family physicians and performed at Calgary Laboratory Services (CLS), the sole supplier of clinical laboratory services for the catchment area of the City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For each test, the mean number of tests ordered per patient was calculated over ordering Calgary physicians, along with arithmetic coefficients of variation (CV's). The latter parameter is reflective of variance in ordering practice among family physicians practicing in Calgary and is proposed as a benchmark measure for laboratory utilization in our accompanying research article [1]. The data table encompasses 358 tests ordered by at least 3 family physicians at a minimum total frequency of 100 within the 2016 study period and is presented in ascending order of rank in CV. Keywords: Clinical laboratory tests, Utilization, Variance, Laboratory medicine, Family medicine

Data presented in this article include the top 51 ordered laboratory tests in Calgary and surrounding area, Alberta, from January to December 2017. This data set was collected from Calgary Laboratory Service’s Laboratory Information System, and included top 51 tests ordered from community (n = 11, 224, 330), inpatient (n = 2,340,594) and emergency (n = 1,670,062) settings. Test order mnemonic that were not true laboratory tests (eg: “extra PST tube”, “extra tube”, etc.) were excluded in the analysis. The top test ordered in all 3 test encounters was the complete blood count test (community encounter, n = 921, 873; inpatient setting, n = 357, 375; and emergency setting, n = 276, 954). This data article was submitted as a companion paper to the related research article, “Estimated costs of 51 commonly ordered laboratory tests in Canada” [1]. Keywords: Laboratory medicine, Pathology informatics, Laboratory utilization management