Dark Daily Press Releases & News
Latest E-Briefings
Experts to Identify Essential Steps & Pitfalls to Help Clinical Laboratories Meet the Deadline to Comply with the FDA’s Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) Rule
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 20, 2024) — With the first important deadline for compliance with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) LDT rule only eight months away, experts urge clinical laboratories performing LDTs to take immediate action. This is essential to protect their most important LDTs that improve patient care while generating substantial reimbursement. Clinical laboratories and genetic testing companies face unprecedented challenges with this ruling and must take immediate steps to understand the LDT rule and develop a compliance plan with timeline. To help clinical labs understand the specific steps they must take to bring existing LDTs into compliance with the new rule, The Dark Report and Dark Daily are presenting a timely webinar, “FDA’s LDT RULE: Understanding What’s Compulsory, What’s Not!” on Thursday, September 12 at 1:00 PM EDT. Learn more and register.
Free Webinar: New Solutions in Laboratory Supply and Logistics Management that Cut Costs, Improve Compliance, and Boost Revenue
AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 18, 2024) — Dark Daily announces its latest webinar, “New Solutions in Laboratory Supply and Logistics Management that Cut Costs, Improve Compliance, and Boost Revenue” which will be broadcast on Wednesday, February 21 at 10 am PST / 1 pm EST. Registration is required for this program, which aims to empower medical laboratory industry leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to compliantly support their outreach clients with testing supplies. Learn more and register.
Now Available On Demand: Validating a Multiplex STI Panel With Non-Invasive Sample Types
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 2, 2023) — Dark Daily announces its latest webinar, “Validating a Multiplex STI Panel With Non-Invasive Sample Types: Unleash the Potential,” is now available free on demand. Registration is required. This program aired September 27, 2023, and details how to validate a single assay for four commonly requested STI tests: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhea (NG), Mycoplasma genitalium (MG), and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), using two separate PCR platforms and non-invasive sample types. Learn more and register.
Now Available On Demand: Practical Applications of AI for Lab, Molecular Diagnostics, and Pathology Revenue Cycle Management
AUSTIN, TEXAS (September 21, 2023) – Operating in an environment of ever-changing payer policies, revenue cycle management leaders of clinical laboratories, molecular diagnostic providers, and pathology practices may need to consider workflow changes now. Learn how artificial intelligence (AI) works and how to determine where to focus your RCM workflow. Learn more and register.
Free Webinar Addresses Blood Culture Contamination, False-Positive Blood Cultures, and Hospital Onset Bactermia
AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 17, 2023) – Use this free 60-minute program, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, to foster partnership between the clinical lab and infection preventionist team toward new national standards associated with HOB, and quality improvements targeting accurate sepsis diagnoses and false-positive CLABSIs. Read more.
Nation’s Biggest Health Insurer Announces Requirement that Molecular and Genetic Test Claims include Z-Codes as of August 1, 2023
AUSTIN, TEXAS (June 15, 2023) – Clinical laboratories across the nation are scrambling to meet a looming August 1 deadline that requires them to include Z-Codes with certain molecular and genetic test claims they submit to the nation’s largest health insurer. Labs that fail to comply may experience a major disruption in cash flow after implementation of this new requirement. Read more.
Free Webinar: Digital Pathology Implementation Strategies
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 3, 2023) – During this Dark Daily webinar, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 1 p.m. Eastern, experts will focus on the business-side foundation and implementation requirements of digital pathology service and workflow, and lessons learned through years of consultation, use case development, and implementation. Read more.
New White Paper Addresses Drug-Resistance Testing
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 27, 2023) – DarkDaily today announced the publication of “Virus Surveillance: Empowering Communities Through Early Genotypic Testing for HIV Drug Resistance,” a new white paper for the health laboratory community, produced in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific. This free white paper addresses several facets of HIV surveillance, including genotypic testing for drug-resistant mutations, virus cluster detection and response, and programs in action. Read more.
Free Webinar: Learning from Payer Behavior to Increase Appeal Success
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 6, 2023) – This Dark Daily webinar will guide lab leaders in the elements of a strategic appeals process. Led by financially focused process improvement and revenue cycle management experts, the free webinar, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 1 p.m. Eastern, will explain new automated tasks for improving appeals success. Experts will also share best practices for quantifying the revenue resulting from implementing a strategic appeals process. Read more.
Free Webinar: Advances in Diagnostic Testing for the Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites Behind Infectious Gastroenteritis
AUSTIN, TEXAS (February 20, 2023) – To bring clinical laboratory leaders up to date about the challenges of infectious gastroenteritis and diagnostic testing, Dark Daily will host a free webinar Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 1 p.m. Eastern, featuring Davidson Hamer, MD, from the Boston University School of Public Health and Chobanian and Avesidian School of Medicine. Read more.
Free Webinar: Pharmacogenomics: Leveraging Capacity to Expand Your Molecular Laboratory Capabilities
AUSTIN, TEXAS (September 29, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar will help laboratories discover how to expand into pharmacogenomics (PGx) and learn about the importance of genetics and laboratory services in medication management.
Free Webinar: Expanding Molecular Diagnostic Share, Patient Access, and Physician Engagement: Critical Success Factors for Maximizing Test Volume and Reimbursement
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 30, 2022) – Molecular diagnostics leaders face persistent challenges in expanding their laboratories’ market share, but a new Dark Daily webinar will deliver practical approaches, process enhancements, and payer strategies essential to growing their businesses.
Free Webinar: Next Step for Molecular Diagnostics and Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Maximize Advanced Technology in the Lab
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 19, 2022) – Advanced diagnostics are being used to rapidly diagnose infections and help in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. However, part of the challenge is that many lab directors and healthcare providers don’t know how to use these tools appropriately. A webinar hosted by Dark Daily will help lab professionals better understand how to work collaboratively with physicians and pathologists to improve their antimicrobial stewardship interventions and protocols.
Free Webinar: Post-COVID Pivot: How to Expand Your Network for Doctor Referrals, Know What Tests are in Demand Now, and Actually Get Paid for the Work You Do
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 18, 2022) – During the COVID-19 pandemic, many labs came to rely on COVID testing for the majority of their revenue. But now that such testing is becoming less reliable as a cash source, lab owners are wondering what to do next. A new, free webinar hosted by Dark Daily will answer this question and help lab owners succeed by addressing the top business-critical issues that they face.
Free Webinar: Improving Sepsis Diagnosis and Management: The Lab’s Role in Enhancing Patient Care from Arrival to Discharge
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 2, 2022) – A free Dark Daily webinar will demonstrate how labs can increase their value by impacting patient outcomes through better sepsis diagnosis and management.
Free Webinar: New Tactics for Hiring Traditional and Specialized Clinical Laboratory Roles
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 24, 2022) – There’s a dire need to fill clinical laboratory and pathology-related roles from only a small pool of correctly qualified individuals, according to experts. For clinical labs and anatomical and clinical pathology group directors looking to fill open positions, a new Dark Daily webinar will provide strategies on dealing with the labor shortage problem in the lab industry.
Free Webinar: Leverage AI to Protect the Integrity of Your Laboratory’s Revenue Cycle
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 9, 2022) – Invisible revenue cycle compliance and performance threats can lead to poor payer relationships, lower revenue, fines, audits, and more. But a new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with Gistia, will demonstrate how artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) can help detect these threats before they hurt your bottom line.
Free Webinar: Practical and Effective Solutions to Achieve Diagnostic and Antibiotic Stewardship
AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 26, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with Magnolia Medical Technologies, will help labs determine the appropriate use of testing to assist with patient care, improve clinical outcomes, and limit antimicrobial resistance.
New clinical and financial opportunities for labs at the first full Executive War College Conference on Laboratory & Pathology Management in two years
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 29, 2022) – Lab executives and pathologists from many of the nation’s most prominent clinical laboratories will come together on April 27-28 to learn about the latest advances in key diagnostic and digital technologies used to increase revenue, lower costs, and improve patient care at the next Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management in New Orleans. The event will feature more than 75 different sessions with up to 125 lab managers, consultants, vendors, and diagnostic experts as speakers.
Free Webinar: Breaking News on Trends and Denials Involving Lab Test Claims
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 3, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with XIFIN, will cover the latest trends in lab test claims and provide participants with the best practices to prevent denials and win appeals.
Free White Paper: Portrait of a Microbiology Lab – Implementing Total Laboratory Automation in a Limited-Resource Environment
AUSTIN, TEXAS (February 8, 2022) –Microbiology labs have little choice but to automate, where possible, to alleviate the pressure on laboratory operations. A new, free white paper from Dark Daily produced in partnership with BD Life Sciences, explores how automation helped redefine the clinical value of a Michigan hospital’s microbiology laboratory.
Free Webinar: Changing Clinical Laboratory Billing Operations Through AI and Advanced Data Automation
AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 4, 2022) –A free, 60-minute webinar will help clinical lab professionals learn how AI and automation can help them recover lost revenue from inaccurate, missing, and obsolete patient information.
Premium Webinar: What Lab Leaders Need to Know to Prepare for Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance Issues in 2022
AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 22, 2021) – While there has been much discussion about the No Surprises Act, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) and federal and commercial payer disputes, lab leaders still have many questions. A new, premium webinar, hosted by Dark Daily, will help lab managers better understand the fast-moving legal, regulatory, and compliance challenges facing the clinical lab industry next year.
Free White Paper: Anatomic Pathology: New Drivers Pushing Beyond Cloud to SaaS Laboratory Information Systems
AUSTIN, TEXAS (November 12, 2021) – Many anatomic pathology lab leaders are faced with the hard decisions of how and why to upgrade their legacy laboratory information system (LIS), but a new, free whitepaper will help these leaders gain knowledge of how a true SaaS LIS can overcome today’s challenges.
Free Webinar: Pharmacogenomics: Data and Innovation to Deliver Precise and Appropriate Medication Use
AUSTIN, TEXAS (November 9, 2021) – A new, free webinar by Dark Daily and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific explores how pharmacogenomics can help reduce adverse responses, deliver treatments faster and lower medical costs.
Free Webinar: The Practical Impacts of the No Surprises Act on Laboratories, Diagnostic Providers, and Specialty Physician Groups
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 20, 2021) – How will the No Surprises Act impact laboratories, diagnostic providers, and specialty physician groups? A new, free webinar brought to you by Dark Daily and sponsored by XIFIN, Inc, will help organizations be prepared.
White Paper: Prioritizing a Digitization Project in Your Clinical Laboratory: Where, How, and Why Other Labs Made Changes
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 11, 2021) –How can clinical lab directors and technical supervisors navigate the complexities of implementing digitization projects in their labs? A new, free white paper by Dark Daily, produced in partnership with Kapios, shares how other organizations have succeeded.
Webinar: Roundtable Discussion of Digital Pathology Adoption Across Key Functional Areas: Diagnostic Pathology, Education, and Research
AUSTIN, Texas (September 21, 2021) —To help pathologists and pathology practice administrators adopt and develop a digital pathology strategy, Dark Daily presents a new free webinar at 1pm Eastern on October 7, 2021, that will feature healthcare industry leaders sharing their decision-making process across three key functional areas: primary diagnosis, education, and research.
Webinar: Accelerating Lab Order Connectivity for Measurable ROI: Support for Multi-Lab Networks
AUSTIN, Texas (September 20, 2021) —Provider silos of the previous decades are giving way to integrated health networks where various providers serve single and sometimes multiple entities. As independent laboratories, hospitals, and health systems enhance their network of providers—including numerous clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice partners, or M&A activities—directors and managers must embrace moving from a disjointed data infrastructure system to value-added connectivity.
Webinar: Making Your Business Case for Digital Pathology Adoption
AUSTIN, Texas (September 8, 2021)—Demand for AI-enabled digital pathology has surged as the pandemic and post-pandemic era has intensified systemic challenges long threatening the traditional laboratory model. This accelerating pace of adoption enables some laboratories to operate remotely while driving quality and efficiency gains to keep pace with the growing need for diagnostic services. It also puts added pressure on other laboratories to ensure the future viability of their businesses through modernization.
Webinar: Advancements in UTI Testing: A Multi-omics Approach to Maximizing the Flexibility of Your Molecular Testing Laboratory
AUSTIN, Texas (August 19, 2021) —With innovative testing methodologies now available to them, many clinical laboratories are assessing their current approaches to molecular testing or expanding their existing menu. The upcoming, essential Dark Daily webinar, Advancements in UTI Testing: A Multi-omics Approach to Maximizing the Flexibility of Your Molecular Testing Laboratory—sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, in partnership with Pathnostics—will compare the clinical utility of genotypic and phenotypic methods in treatment of UTIs and describe how a multi-omics approach could be implemented in a laboratory. The free, 60-minute webinar takes place on Thursday, August 25, 2021, at 1 p.m. Eastern and will be available on-demand after.
Webinar: Ransomware Protection & Response for Clinical Labs, Hospitals, and Pathology Groups
AUSTIN, Texas (August 13, 2021) —This is a little-known fact: Each week, several hospitals, clinical labs, and other providers discover that their digital services are encrypted and inaccessible. Even worse: The number of successful encryption attacks is increasing month by month.
But you don’t hear about most of the weekly encryption attacks on healthcare providers because they are kept secret from the public, with a few exceptions. The reason is simple: healthcare providers do not want the public to know that they paid a ransom to obtain the de-encryption key necessary to restore access to their organization’s vital information systems and software.
Webinar: Meeting the Challenges of COVID-19 Testing: A User’s Experience with the Scalable, High Throughput Amplitude Solution
AUSTIN, Texas (July 23, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced an upcoming free webinar, “Meeting the Challenges of COVID-19 Testing: A User’s Experience Addressing the Unpredictable Testing Demand of Clinical Laboratories with the Scalable, High Throughput Amplitude Solution,” to be held Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 1 pm EDT and available on-demand after that. Sponsored by Thermo Fisher, this webinar will discuss how one company’s rapid response to the COVID-19 testing needs of the global clinical laboratory community provided access to secured supply of consumables, workforce efficiencies, an automated high-throughput workflow, and committed service and support.
White Paper: Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples—Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes through Collaboration with Life Sciences
AUSTIN, Texas (June 17, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes through Collaboration with Life Sciences,” a free, 24-page white paper produced in collaboration with Ovation that explores how the rapid decline in SARS-CoV-2 testing affects molecular laboratories and the life sciences industry as a whole and offers opportunities for drug developers and labs to work together in new and beneficial ways.
Webinar: Best Practices for Launching Profitable, Efficient NGS Tests for Hereditary Risk
AUSTIN, Texas (June 16, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Best Practices for Launching Profitable, Efficient NGS Tests for Hereditary Risk,” a free webinar that will increase attendees’ understanding of NGS workflow considerations, data interpretation and analysis, and best practices for implementation. It will be held Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 1 pm EDT and will be available on-demand after that.
New Webinar: Clinical-Grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Your Pathology Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (June 14, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 17, 2021 premium webinar, “Clinical-Grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Your Pathology Lab: What’s Ready Now, What’s Coming Soon, and How Pathologists Can Profit from Its Use.” This webinar will guide pathologists through the essentials of implementing AI in digital pathology and clinical practice—including how to fund their investment.
New Webinar: Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 16, 2021 free webinar, “Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Mutations: A Microarray Multiplex Alternative to Next Generation Sequencing or q-RT-PCR for Rapid COVID-19 Variant Identification.” This webinar brings clinical and public health labs and research institutions up to date on SARS-CoV-2 variant detection and the best options now available for identifying SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
New Webinar: How a Novel Molecular Screening Technology for Blood-Related Cancers Can Provide Operational and Cost-Effective Benefits to Your Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (June 3, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 9, 2021 free webinar for molecular labs and pathology groups, “How a Novel Molecular Screening Technology for Blood-Related Cancers Can Provide Operational and Cost-Effective Benefits to Your Lab.” This webinar presents the benefits of Precipio’s HemeScreen, a novel, proprietary technology that offers an alternative to the existing molecular testing modalities for blood-related cancers.
New Webinar on Adopting Digital Pathology on a Budget
AUSTIN, Texas (May 24, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Adopting Digital Pathology on a Budget: Getting Started, Knowing What’s Feasible, and Funding Your DP from Overlooked Sources.” This paid webinar investigates the different paths to digital pathology and how they can contribute towards new streams of revenue and increase pathologists’ compensation. Learn what’s new and different in digital pathology, whole slide imaging, and automated digital image analysis and how to bring digital pathology to your lab.
New Webinar on how to Maximize COVID-19 Test Claim Reimbursements and Prepare for Audits
AUSTIN, Texas (May 17, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Getting Paid for COVID-19 Test Claims: Prepare for Audits, Maximize Reimbursement, and Navigate New Payer Trends,” a 90-minute webinar that is taking place Wednesday, May 19 from 1-2:30 pm EDT and available to stream on-demand after. This webinar will help clinical laboratories avoid medical necessity denials and deal with payer disputes, optimize COVID-19 test billing claims and capture revenue; and understand what actions to take now to navigate the emerging payer trends.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
South Korean Researchers Develop Clinical Laboratory Test That Diagnoses Sepsis Faster than Traditional Tests
Diagnostic test incorporates artificial intelligence and could shorten the time clinical laboratories need to determine patients’ risk for antimicrobial resistance Sepsis continues to be a major killer in hospitals worldwide. Defeating it requires early diagnosis,...
Mayo Clinic Researchers Uses Exome Sequencing to Identify Individuals at Risk of Hereditary Cancer
Half of the people tested were unaware of their genetic risk for contracting the disease Existing clinical laboratory genetic screening guidelines may be inadequate when it comes to finding people at risk of hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndromes and Lynch...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 2)
These advances in the battle against cancer could lead to new clinical laboratory screening tests and other diagnostics for early detection of the disease As Dark Daily reported in part one of this story, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified 12 new...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 1)
List also includes precision oncology, liquid biopsies, and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that in a recently updated article the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified a dozen important...
University of Edinburgh Scientists Associate Increased Cancer Rates to Descendants from Multiple Scottish Islands
Findings could lead to new clinical laboratory cancer screening tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2 among specific population regions Descendants of a remote Scottish island are much more likely to carry a cancer-causing BRCA2 gene than the rest of the UK. That’s according to a...
Pathology Laboratory Cuts Lead to Worker Walkout in Australia
Underfunding of clinical laboratories has led to similar worker walkouts in multiple Australasian nations Once again, cuts in government spending on pathology services has forced healthcare workers to walk off the job in Australia. This is in line with other pathology...
Free Webinar Addresses Blood Culture Contamination, False-Positive Blood Cultures, and Hospital Onset Bactermia
AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 17, 2023) – Use this free 60-minute program, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, to foster partnership between the clinical lab and infection preventionist team toward new national standards associated with HOB, and quality improvements targeting accurate sepsis diagnoses and false-positive CLABSIs. Read more.
Nation’s Biggest Health Insurer Announces Requirement that Molecular and Genetic Test Claims include Z-Codes as of August 1, 2023
AUSTIN, TEXAS (June 15, 2023) – Clinical laboratories across the nation are scrambling to meet a looming August 1 deadline that requires them to include Z-Codes with certain molecular and genetic test claims they submit to the nation’s largest health insurer. Labs that fail to comply may experience a major disruption in cash flow after implementation of this new requirement. Read more.
Free Webinar: Digital Pathology Implementation Strategies
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 3, 2023) – During this Dark Daily webinar, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 1 p.m. Eastern, experts will focus on the business-side foundation and implementation requirements of digital pathology service and workflow, and lessons learned through years of consultation, use case development, and implementation. Read more.
New White Paper Addresses Drug-Resistance Testing
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 27, 2023) – DarkDaily today announced the publication of “Virus Surveillance: Empowering Communities Through Early Genotypic Testing for HIV Drug Resistance,” a new white paper for the health laboratory community, produced in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific. This free white paper addresses several facets of HIV surveillance, including genotypic testing for drug-resistant mutations, virus cluster detection and response, and programs in action. Read more.
Free Webinar: Learning from Payer Behavior to Increase Appeal Success
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 6, 2023) – This Dark Daily webinar will guide lab leaders in the elements of a strategic appeals process. Led by financially focused process improvement and revenue cycle management experts, the free webinar, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at 1 p.m. Eastern, will explain new automated tasks for improving appeals success. Experts will also share best practices for quantifying the revenue resulting from implementing a strategic appeals process. Read more.
Free Webinar: Advances in Diagnostic Testing for the Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites Behind Infectious Gastroenteritis
AUSTIN, TEXAS (February 20, 2023) – To bring clinical laboratory leaders up to date about the challenges of infectious gastroenteritis and diagnostic testing, Dark Daily will host a free webinar Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 1 p.m. Eastern, featuring Davidson Hamer, MD, from the Boston University School of Public Health and Chobanian and Avesidian School of Medicine. Read more.
Free Webinar: Pharmacogenomics: Leveraging Capacity to Expand Your Molecular Laboratory Capabilities
AUSTIN, TEXAS (September 29, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar will help laboratories discover how to expand into pharmacogenomics (PGx) and learn about the importance of genetics and laboratory services in medication management.
Free Webinar: Expanding Molecular Diagnostic Share, Patient Access, and Physician Engagement: Critical Success Factors for Maximizing Test Volume and Reimbursement
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 30, 2022) – Molecular diagnostics leaders face persistent challenges in expanding their laboratories’ market share, but a new Dark Daily webinar will deliver practical approaches, process enhancements, and payer strategies essential to growing their businesses.
Free Webinar: Next Step for Molecular Diagnostics and Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Maximize Advanced Technology in the Lab
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 19, 2022) – Advanced diagnostics are being used to rapidly diagnose infections and help in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. However, part of the challenge is that many lab directors and healthcare providers don’t know how to use these tools appropriately. A webinar hosted by Dark Daily will help lab professionals better understand how to work collaboratively with physicians and pathologists to improve their antimicrobial stewardship interventions and protocols.
Free Webinar: Post-COVID Pivot: How to Expand Your Network for Doctor Referrals, Know What Tests are in Demand Now, and Actually Get Paid for the Work You Do
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 18, 2022) – During the COVID-19 pandemic, many labs came to rely on COVID testing for the majority of their revenue. But now that such testing is becoming less reliable as a cash source, lab owners are wondering what to do next. A new, free webinar hosted by Dark Daily will answer this question and help lab owners succeed by addressing the top business-critical issues that they face.
Free Webinar: Improving Sepsis Diagnosis and Management: The Lab’s Role in Enhancing Patient Care from Arrival to Discharge
AUSTIN, TEXAS (August 2, 2022) – A free Dark Daily webinar will demonstrate how labs can increase their value by impacting patient outcomes through better sepsis diagnosis and management.
Free Webinar: New Tactics for Hiring Traditional and Specialized Clinical Laboratory Roles
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 24, 2022) – There’s a dire need to fill clinical laboratory and pathology-related roles from only a small pool of correctly qualified individuals, according to experts. For clinical labs and anatomical and clinical pathology group directors looking to fill open positions, a new Dark Daily webinar will provide strategies on dealing with the labor shortage problem in the lab industry.
Free Webinar: Leverage AI to Protect the Integrity of Your Laboratory’s Revenue Cycle
AUSTIN, TEXAS (May 9, 2022) – Invisible revenue cycle compliance and performance threats can lead to poor payer relationships, lower revenue, fines, audits, and more. But a new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with Gistia, will demonstrate how artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) can help detect these threats before they hurt your bottom line.
Free Webinar: Practical and Effective Solutions to Achieve Diagnostic and Antibiotic Stewardship
AUSTIN, TEXAS (April 26, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with Magnolia Medical Technologies, will help labs determine the appropriate use of testing to assist with patient care, improve clinical outcomes, and limit antimicrobial resistance.
New clinical and financial opportunities for labs at the first full Executive War College Conference on Laboratory & Pathology Management in two years
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 29, 2022) – Lab executives and pathologists from many of the nation’s most prominent clinical laboratories will come together on April 27-28 to learn about the latest advances in key diagnostic and digital technologies used to increase revenue, lower costs, and improve patient care at the next Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management in New Orleans. The event will feature more than 75 different sessions with up to 125 lab managers, consultants, vendors, and diagnostic experts as speakers.
Free Webinar: Breaking News on Trends and Denials Involving Lab Test Claims
AUSTIN, TEXAS (March 3, 2022) – A new, free Dark Daily webinar, produced in partnership with XIFIN, will cover the latest trends in lab test claims and provide participants with the best practices to prevent denials and win appeals.
Free White Paper: Portrait of a Microbiology Lab – Implementing Total Laboratory Automation in a Limited-Resource Environment
AUSTIN, TEXAS (February 8, 2022) –Microbiology labs have little choice but to automate, where possible, to alleviate the pressure on laboratory operations. A new, free white paper from Dark Daily produced in partnership with BD Life Sciences, explores how automation helped redefine the clinical value of a Michigan hospital’s microbiology laboratory.
Free Webinar: Changing Clinical Laboratory Billing Operations Through AI and Advanced Data Automation
AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 4, 2022) –A free, 60-minute webinar will help clinical lab professionals learn how AI and automation can help them recover lost revenue from inaccurate, missing, and obsolete patient information.
Premium Webinar: What Lab Leaders Need to Know to Prepare for Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance Issues in 2022
AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 22, 2021) – While there has been much discussion about the No Surprises Act, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) and federal and commercial payer disputes, lab leaders still have many questions. A new, premium webinar, hosted by Dark Daily, will help lab managers better understand the fast-moving legal, regulatory, and compliance challenges facing the clinical lab industry next year.
Free White Paper: Anatomic Pathology: New Drivers Pushing Beyond Cloud to SaaS Laboratory Information Systems
AUSTIN, TEXAS (November 12, 2021) – Many anatomic pathology lab leaders are faced with the hard decisions of how and why to upgrade their legacy laboratory information system (LIS), but a new, free whitepaper will help these leaders gain knowledge of how a true SaaS LIS can overcome today’s challenges.
Free Webinar: Pharmacogenomics: Data and Innovation to Deliver Precise and Appropriate Medication Use
AUSTIN, TEXAS (November 9, 2021) – A new, free webinar by Dark Daily and sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific explores how pharmacogenomics can help reduce adverse responses, deliver treatments faster and lower medical costs.
Free Webinar: The Practical Impacts of the No Surprises Act on Laboratories, Diagnostic Providers, and Specialty Physician Groups
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 20, 2021) – How will the No Surprises Act impact laboratories, diagnostic providers, and specialty physician groups? A new, free webinar brought to you by Dark Daily and sponsored by XIFIN, Inc, will help organizations be prepared.
White Paper: Prioritizing a Digitization Project in Your Clinical Laboratory: Where, How, and Why Other Labs Made Changes
AUSTIN, TEXAS (October 11, 2021) –How can clinical lab directors and technical supervisors navigate the complexities of implementing digitization projects in their labs? A new, free white paper by Dark Daily, produced in partnership with Kapios, shares how other organizations have succeeded.
Webinar: Roundtable Discussion of Digital Pathology Adoption Across Key Functional Areas: Diagnostic Pathology, Education, and Research
AUSTIN, Texas (September 21, 2021) —To help pathologists and pathology practice administrators adopt and develop a digital pathology strategy, Dark Daily presents a new free webinar at 1pm Eastern on October 7, 2021, that will feature healthcare industry leaders sharing their decision-making process across three key functional areas: primary diagnosis, education, and research.
Webinar: Accelerating Lab Order Connectivity for Measurable ROI: Support for Multi-Lab Networks
AUSTIN, Texas (September 20, 2021) —Provider silos of the previous decades are giving way to integrated health networks where various providers serve single and sometimes multiple entities. As independent laboratories, hospitals, and health systems enhance their network of providers—including numerous clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice partners, or M&A activities—directors and managers must embrace moving from a disjointed data infrastructure system to value-added connectivity.
Webinar: Making Your Business Case for Digital Pathology Adoption
AUSTIN, Texas (September 8, 2021)—Demand for AI-enabled digital pathology has surged as the pandemic and post-pandemic era has intensified systemic challenges long threatening the traditional laboratory model. This accelerating pace of adoption enables some laboratories to operate remotely while driving quality and efficiency gains to keep pace with the growing need for diagnostic services. It also puts added pressure on other laboratories to ensure the future viability of their businesses through modernization.
Webinar: Advancements in UTI Testing: A Multi-omics Approach to Maximizing the Flexibility of Your Molecular Testing Laboratory
AUSTIN, Texas (August 19, 2021) —With innovative testing methodologies now available to them, many clinical laboratories are assessing their current approaches to molecular testing or expanding their existing menu. The upcoming, essential Dark Daily webinar, Advancements in UTI Testing: A Multi-omics Approach to Maximizing the Flexibility of Your Molecular Testing Laboratory—sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific, in partnership with Pathnostics—will compare the clinical utility of genotypic and phenotypic methods in treatment of UTIs and describe how a multi-omics approach could be implemented in a laboratory. The free, 60-minute webinar takes place on Thursday, August 25, 2021, at 1 p.m. Eastern and will be available on-demand after.
Webinar: Ransomware Protection & Response for Clinical Labs, Hospitals, and Pathology Groups
AUSTIN, Texas (August 13, 2021) —This is a little-known fact: Each week, several hospitals, clinical labs, and other providers discover that their digital services are encrypted and inaccessible. Even worse: The number of successful encryption attacks is increasing month by month.
But you don’t hear about most of the weekly encryption attacks on healthcare providers because they are kept secret from the public, with a few exceptions. The reason is simple: healthcare providers do not want the public to know that they paid a ransom to obtain the de-encryption key necessary to restore access to their organization’s vital information systems and software.
Webinar: Meeting the Challenges of COVID-19 Testing: A User’s Experience with the Scalable, High Throughput Amplitude Solution
AUSTIN, Texas (July 23, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced an upcoming free webinar, “Meeting the Challenges of COVID-19 Testing: A User’s Experience Addressing the Unpredictable Testing Demand of Clinical Laboratories with the Scalable, High Throughput Amplitude Solution,” to be held Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 1 pm EDT and available on-demand after that. Sponsored by Thermo Fisher, this webinar will discuss how one company’s rapid response to the COVID-19 testing needs of the global clinical laboratory community provided access to secured supply of consumables, workforce efficiencies, an automated high-throughput workflow, and committed service and support.
White Paper: Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples—Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes through Collaboration with Life Sciences
AUSTIN, Texas (June 17, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes through Collaboration with Life Sciences,” a free, 24-page white paper produced in collaboration with Ovation that explores how the rapid decline in SARS-CoV-2 testing affects molecular laboratories and the life sciences industry as a whole and offers opportunities for drug developers and labs to work together in new and beneficial ways.
Webinar: Best Practices for Launching Profitable, Efficient NGS Tests for Hereditary Risk
AUSTIN, Texas (June 16, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Best Practices for Launching Profitable, Efficient NGS Tests for Hereditary Risk,” a free webinar that will increase attendees’ understanding of NGS workflow considerations, data interpretation and analysis, and best practices for implementation. It will be held Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 1 pm EDT and will be available on-demand after that.
New Webinar: Clinical-Grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Your Pathology Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (June 14, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 17, 2021 premium webinar, “Clinical-Grade Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Your Pathology Lab: What’s Ready Now, What’s Coming Soon, and How Pathologists Can Profit from Its Use.” This webinar will guide pathologists through the essentials of implementing AI in digital pathology and clinical practice—including how to fund their investment.
New Webinar: Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 16, 2021 free webinar, “Identifying SARS-CoV-2 Mutations: A Microarray Multiplex Alternative to Next Generation Sequencing or q-RT-PCR for Rapid COVID-19 Variant Identification.” This webinar brings clinical and public health labs and research institutions up to date on SARS-CoV-2 variant detection and the best options now available for identifying SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
New Webinar: How a Novel Molecular Screening Technology for Blood-Related Cancers Can Provide Operational and Cost-Effective Benefits to Your Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (June 3, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced the June 9, 2021 free webinar for molecular labs and pathology groups, “How a Novel Molecular Screening Technology for Blood-Related Cancers Can Provide Operational and Cost-Effective Benefits to Your Lab.” This webinar presents the benefits of Precipio’s HemeScreen, a novel, proprietary technology that offers an alternative to the existing molecular testing modalities for blood-related cancers.
New Webinar on Adopting Digital Pathology on a Budget
AUSTIN, Texas (May 24, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Adopting Digital Pathology on a Budget: Getting Started, Knowing What’s Feasible, and Funding Your DP from Overlooked Sources.” This paid webinar investigates the different paths to digital pathology and how they can contribute towards new streams of revenue and increase pathologists’ compensation. Learn what’s new and different in digital pathology, whole slide imaging, and automated digital image analysis and how to bring digital pathology to your lab.
New Webinar on how to Maximize COVID-19 Test Claim Reimbursements and Prepare for Audits
AUSTIN, Texas (May 17, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Getting Paid for COVID-19 Test Claims: Prepare for Audits, Maximize Reimbursement, and Navigate New Payer Trends,” a 90-minute webinar that is taking place Wednesday, May 19 from 1-2:30 pm EDT and available to stream on-demand after. This webinar will help clinical laboratories avoid medical necessity denials and deal with payer disputes, optimize COVID-19 test billing claims and capture revenue; and understand what actions to take now to navigate the emerging payer trends.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
South Korean Researchers Develop Clinical Laboratory Test That Diagnoses Sepsis Faster than Traditional Tests
Diagnostic test incorporates artificial intelligence and could shorten the time clinical laboratories need to determine patients’ risk for antimicrobial resistance Sepsis continues to be a major killer in hospitals worldwide. Defeating it requires early diagnosis,...
Mayo Clinic Researchers Uses Exome Sequencing to Identify Individuals at Risk of Hereditary Cancer
Half of the people tested were unaware of their genetic risk for contracting the disease Existing clinical laboratory genetic screening guidelines may be inadequate when it comes to finding people at risk of hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndromes and Lynch...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 2)
These advances in the battle against cancer could lead to new clinical laboratory screening tests and other diagnostics for early detection of the disease As Dark Daily reported in part one of this story, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified 12 new...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 1)
List also includes precision oncology, liquid biopsies, and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that in a recently updated article the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified a dozen important...
University of Edinburgh Scientists Associate Increased Cancer Rates to Descendants from Multiple Scottish Islands
Findings could lead to new clinical laboratory cancer screening tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2 among specific population regions Descendants of a remote Scottish island are much more likely to carry a cancer-causing BRCA2 gene than the rest of the UK. That’s according to a...
Pathology Laboratory Cuts Lead to Worker Walkout in Australia
Underfunding of clinical laboratories has led to similar worker walkouts in multiple Australasian nations Once again, cuts in government spending on pathology services has forced healthcare workers to walk off the job in Australia. This is in line with other pathology...
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
South Korean Researchers Develop Clinical Laboratory Test That Diagnoses Sepsis Faster than Traditional Tests
Diagnostic test incorporates artificial intelligence and could shorten the time clinical laboratories need to determine patients’ risk for antimicrobial resistance Sepsis continues to be a major killer in hospitals worldwide. Defeating it requires early diagnosis,...
Mayo Clinic Researchers Uses Exome Sequencing to Identify Individuals at Risk of Hereditary Cancer
Half of the people tested were unaware of their genetic risk for contracting the disease Existing clinical laboratory genetic screening guidelines may be inadequate when it comes to finding people at risk of hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndromes and Lynch...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 2)
These advances in the battle against cancer could lead to new clinical laboratory screening tests and other diagnostics for early detection of the disease As Dark Daily reported in part one of this story, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified 12 new...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 1)
List also includes precision oncology, liquid biopsies, and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that in a recently updated article the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified a dozen important...
University of Edinburgh Scientists Associate Increased Cancer Rates to Descendants from Multiple Scottish Islands
Findings could lead to new clinical laboratory cancer screening tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2 among specific population regions Descendants of a remote Scottish island are much more likely to carry a cancer-causing BRCA2 gene than the rest of the UK. That’s according to a...
Pathology Laboratory Cuts Lead to Worker Walkout in Australia
Underfunding of clinical laboratories has led to similar worker walkouts in multiple Australasian nations Once again, cuts in government spending on pathology services has forced healthcare workers to walk off the job in Australia. This is in line with other pathology...
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
New Webinar on Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) – DARK Daily today announced “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship,” a new, free webinar sponsored by HC1 and Quest Diagnostics. “Strategies for Laboratory Professionals to Drive Lab Stewardship” explores the implementation of laboratory stewardship to increase effective test use, decrease costs, and improve patient care. Laboratory testing is typically the single highest-volume medical activity in a health system and plays a major role in driving clinical decision-making.
New Webinar on How Hospitals and Health Systems Can Prepare to Meet a New Blood Culture Contamination Benchmark
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2021) — Blood culture contamination is a significant issue that impacts all hospitals. Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives that resulted from touchpoint contamination and/or skin and skin plug contamination at the time of collection. These false-positive sepsis results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment.
New Report Helps Clinical Laboratories Level the Playing Field with Private Health Plans to Overcome Unpredictable Payer Policies and Get More COVID-19 Test Claims Paid in Full
AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2021) — Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic last year, clinical laboratories submitting legitimate claims for COVID-19 tests regularly found themselves battling to get paid because certain private health plans simply denied these claims, often with no explanation for the denial. There are even cases where some private payers ignored federal and state laws requiring payment for COVID-19 test claims. But the end result is always the same: labs performed the COVID-19 test requested by the doctor, but the payer did not reimburse the claim.
DARK Daily: Webinar Shares How Lab Leaders Can Position Their Labs for Success in a Post-Pandemic World by Leveraging Their Diagnostic Data as a Strategic Asset
AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2021) — With the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, labs across the globe were forced to rapidly adapt as the volume and breadth of testing dramatically shifted to support COVID-19 diagnostics. Labs experienced a 50-60% decline in the flow of routine specimens and revenues as higher value tests were paused or replaced with COVID-related diagnostics. But as COVID-19 testing volumes decrease, there’s no guarantee that higher-value tests will fill the void at the same rate.
New Webinar Featuring Experts from Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Andersen and Su Labs–Scripps Research, and Yeo Lab–UC San Diego Informs Lab Leaders on How to Identify Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Mutations
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2021) — SARS-CoV-2 has been mutating at a rate of about one to two mutations per month. The emergence of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants brings fast-moving questions for clinical laboratory administrators about the ability to identify new potential coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants. One of the most notable is how standard COVID-19 testing can be positioned to detect these new variants, particularly now that the S-gene dropout issue has been discovered.
Webinar helps labs better align coding, billing, and collection steps to generate more paid genetic test claims
AUSTIN, Texas (March 23, 2021) – Getting paid for genetic test claims continues to be the single biggest challenge for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups. In response to the substantial surge in the numbers of new genetic tests, payers are placing tougher restrictions on how they accept and pay genetic test claims. Hear a panel of respected experts from Concert Genetics, XIFIN, and Bruce Quinn Associates, LLC discuss three approaches smart genetic testing executives can use to increase the number of genetic test claims that are reimbursed.
New Special Report provides legal, regulatory, and compliance guidelines for clinical laboratories working to develop profitable COVID-19 employee testing programs
AUSTIN, Texas (November 13, 2020) – There is an exploding market for COVID-19 employer testing programs, presenting tremendous opportunity for clinical laboratories. It is crucial for clinical laboratories to ensure that they have the information they need in order to develop effective and profitable COVID-19 employee screening and testing programs.
New webinar featuring front-line speakers from the LA County Department of Public Health informs lab leaders on starting and scaling their COVID-19 testing
AUSTIN, Texas (July 30, 2020) – As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, medical laboratories of all types have been working around the clock to get testing up and running. Some labs, such as those which are hospital-based and academic medical center-affiliated, have fortunately had access to more resources and infrastructure as they scale up for testing volume.
Recently published White Paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI
AUSTIN, Texas (July 16, 2020) – Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.
Recently Published White Paper Helps Laboratory Professionals Understand Risks, Requirements, and Benefits of a Clinical Decision Support System
AUSTIN, Texas (July 1, 2020) – Current events have highlighted the critical role of the clinical laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA reducing reimbursement, labs must now determine the best direction in defining their role and its value to the hospital or health system.
White Paper shows laboratory professionals how to equip clinical staff and administrators with skills needed to evaluate, measure and analyze in order to improve both lab operations and the bottom line
AUSTIN, Texas (June 30, 2020) – Now more than ever before, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and promptly, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.
Recently Published White Paper Provides Laboratory Professionals with Insights and Best Practices Addressing Quality Issues & Solutions Related to Medical Lab Specimen Management
AUSTIN, Texas (June 12, 2020) – The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.
New Webinar Demonstrates Streamlined Operations, Increased Revenue, and Higher Quality of Care as Conclusive Evidence on the Value of Adopting Digital Pathology in the Lab
AUSTIN, Texas (May 5, 2020) – Digital pathology has been positioned as a transformational tool that is enabling anatomic pathology laboratories to effectively address the complex dynamics that threaten their economic viability. A growing base of both partially and fully digitized labs continues to generate evidence in support of this paradigm shift; labs that have adopted digital pathology have seen from 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains.
Press Release: Is Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? New White Paper Offers Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now
AUSTIN, Texas (March 17, 2020) – As anatomic pathology laboratories struggle to remain profitable while they grapple with increasing workloads and sweeping reimbursement cuts, digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI) applications have demonstrated their power to tackle these systemic challenges—enabling laboratories to overcome the unprecedented confluence of market pressures and to drive efficiency and quality gains.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with insights to effectively transform their lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves
AUSTIN, Texas (February 7, 2020) – Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path. Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.
Press Release: The All-New Precision Medicine Institute Website Makes Its Debut
AUSTIN, Texas (December 23, 2019) — Entering its third year, Precision Medicine Institute has quickly gained a world-renowned reputation by differentiating itself from other precision medicine conferences. Rather than information delivered by clinicians speaking strictly about the practice of precision medicine and the science behind it, Precision Medicine Institute stands apart by delivering crucial management and operational intelligence from those who have already initiated (and learned from) their own precision medicine programs.
Press Release: White Paper provides laboratory professionals with practical insights & indispensable how-to’s regarding the myriad challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system
AUSTIN, Texas (November 12, 2019) – A recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases. Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.
Press Release: Clinical Laboratory Innovators in Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement to Gather in Atlanta October 15-16, 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (August 28, 2019) — In just over six weeks, the clinical lab industry’s leading experts in the use of Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods will gather for the annual Lab Quality Confab conference. This internationally-recognized event will take place October 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency, in the heart of downtown Atlanta, GA.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Smart Hospital and Health Network Laboratories Assessing Alternatives to Traditional Lab Practice Models in This Era of Declining Lab Reimbursement, Integrated Care Models, and Personalized Medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (August 27, 2019) The clinical laboratory industry is increasingly revolving around hospitals, health systems, and other integrated care delivery networks. Laboratories continue to be challenged with reimbursement reductions, value-based contracting demands, financial outcomes measured as total cost of care, not to mention a demand for complex and costly technologies.
Press Release | DARK Daily: How Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes May Impact Clinical Laboratory and Pathology Practices in 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (August 7, 2019) Proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program means that clinical laboratories and pathology practices need to fully understand how their lab revenue can potentially be affected by these changes, and prepare accordingly.
Press Release | DARK Daily: Innovative Evidence-Based Technology Reduces Blood Culture Contamination, Improves Patient Care, and Reduces Costs in Clinical Labs and Hospitals
AUSTIN, Texas (July 18, 2019) – As a result of contamination of blood specimens at the time of collection, 35% to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are actually false positive. These false positive results confound clinical decisions regarding antibiotic therapy, including selection and de-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. The result is that patients are often treated with unnecessary antibiotics, with attendant risks of secondary infection such as C. difficile, MDROs, and other antibiotic-associated complications.
Press Release: Improving Patient Outcomes Using the Principles of Lab 2.0 to Combat Opioid-Use Disorder
AUSTIN, Texas (June 11, 2019) Opioid overuse and addiction continue to contribute significantly to health issues of the nation’s population and to the increased cost of healthcare, making it even more vital for providers to optimally prescribe for and monitor, in the safest manner, their patients using opioid drugs.
Press Release: Compliance with New Federal EKRA Law Creates Uncertainties in How Clinical Laboratories Pay Commissions to Their Sales Teams
Austin, Texas (April 18, 2019) — EKRA (The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act) was passed October 24, 2018 as part of the SUPPORT Act, a combination of more than 70 bills aimed at fighting the current opioid epidemic. EKRA is intended to address patient brokering—in exchange for kickbacks—of individuals with substance abuse disorders.
Press Release: Hospitals May Face Federal Penalties of $10,000 Per Day If They Fail to Report PAMA Private Payer Clinical Laboratory Test Price Data to CMS in Early 2020
AUSTIN, Texas (April 1, 2019) — Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation’s hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day.
Press Release: DARK Daily | Revisions in PAMA private payer price data reporting requirements having a dramatic effect on laboratory organizations
(February 15, 2019) Recent changes made to PAMA regulations mean that many more hospital and other labs must now report their PAMA private payer price data to Medicare. These revisions are having a profound impact on hospital and other laboratories.
Webinar | Performance coaching a proven method to encourage the success of lab staff and ensure a sustainable Lean lab transformation
(January 11, 2019) Realities of the current healthcare environment are harsh: laboratories are constantly challenged to do more with less, and are faced with a shortage of skilled or experienced personnel.
Webinar: Clinical Laboratories Should Prepare Now to Make Their Labs Assessment-Ready in 2019
(December 12, 2018) PRESS RELEASE: Today’s tough healthcare environment means that laboratories face increasing pressure from all sides. Regulatory responsibilities can sometimes take a back burner to other pressing issues, causing some lab leaders to scramble in response to unexpected deficiencies identified by accreditors and CLIA inspectors.
White Paper: Creating a patient-centered lab with breakthrough blood collection technology: Using new microsampling methods provides reliable, economical collection, shipping and storage solutions
(October 11, 2018) – PRESS RELEASE: Patient-centered care, also known as the “patient-centric” approach, represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment. Patient-centric care can lead to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes. More technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).
Preparing Health Network CEOs for Success with Precision Medicine: Early-Adopter Health Systems to Gather in Nashville September 12-13 to Share Advances in Oncology, Pharmacogenomics, Big Data
(August 14, 2018)—PRESS RELEASE: Precision Medicine is happening now at first-mover hospitals and health systems! September 12-13 in Nashville, experts from the nation’s most successful precision medicine clinical programs will gather to share their strategies and lessons learned. The goal of this conference is to provide hospital CEOs with the insights needed to initiate effective precision medicine programs in their own institutions.
Next-Generation Sequencing Helps Molecular Laboratories Deliver Personalized Medicine Services to their Client Physicians
The Dark Report and DARK Daily Offer Free White Paper: A Guide to Effective Revenue Cycle and Compliance Management as Key Contributors to Increased Clinical Laboratory Profits and Valuation
Healthcare’s Accelerating Transformation as Both Threat and Potential for Anatomic Pathologists: Useful Steps to Help Labs with Eroding Practice Finances and Unwelcome Payer Trends, Plus New Clinical Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (March 30, 2018)—As new technology is incorporated into the practice of pathology, as consolidations increase, as reimbursement models evolve, and as consumerism takes on a more important role in healthcare—the field of pathology continues to transform.
PRESS RELEASE: Labs get updated on the latest issues catching them off-guard during accreditation assessments and surprise visits from CLIA inspectors, by learning from the top accreditation organizations in a non-inspection setting
New Webinar to Focus on ‘Private Practice Pathology,’ Explain Current Realities and Forthcoming Opportunities
AUSTIN, Texas (February 19, 2018) – Pathology Webinars, LLC, a leading pathology and medical laboratories educational authority, will host a brand new informative webinar, “Private Practice Pathology – Today’s Reality and Tomorrow’s Opportunities with More Access to Managed Care Contracts, Regional Pathology Consolidation, Pathologist Productivity and Compensation, and Getting Paid for Claims,” on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
Fines, decreased reimbursements, and more frequent payer audits await those clinical labs and pathology groups not prepared for tougher legal and regulatory changes starting January 1, 2018
AUSTIN, Texas (November 2, 2017)—The list of regulatory, compliance and managed care threats that must be addressed by clinical labs and pathology group practices in 2018 is lengthy. Each comes with the potential of government sanctions, exclusion from provider networks, large recoupment demands, and greater risk for individual liability of lab directors and lab managers that can include jail time, sizeable fines, and exclusion from federal health programs.
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
AUSTIN, Texas (July 28, 2017)—Experts agree that the FDA’s long-awaited clearance earlier this year of a Digital Pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is the trigger event for a wave of clinical, operational, financial, and professional transformation. This decision has confronted every pathologist and pathology practice administrator with a fundamental question that comes with high stakes: how quickly will digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging come to their group practice or medical laboratory?
Attention CFOs of Clinical Lab Companies, Hospitals, and Health Systems: Coming Soon is New FASB Requirement for Recognizing Revenue from Contracts
AUSTIN, Texas (May 23, 2017): Big changes are coming for chief financial officers at laboratory companies, hospitals, and health systems that report financial performance using GAAP. CFOs at these organizations will soon be required to comply with the new FASB Rule 606–Revenue Recognition Standard. That means all contracts, including managed care contracts and patient self-pay arrangements, must be reported in a different manner.
New and powerful trend in the laboratory industry contributes to increased lab revenue and supports clinicians for better clinical outcomes
AUSTIN, Texas (April 5, 2017) It is now possible for medical laboratories to increase their revenues specifically because their labs are helping physicians achieve better patient outcomes. This is welcome news, particularly if a lab is seeking ways to offset price cuts and shrinking budgets.
Ongoing change in the healthcare industry has resulted in an overwhelming need for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to do more with less, while finding new ways to grow
AUSTIN, Texas (March 8, 2017) – The year 2016 was one of continuing change for the healthcare industry. The result has been more pressure than ever in 2017 to meet the demands of informed consumers while balancing new regulations. For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, these myriad changes have also resulted in a pressing need to achieve more with fewer resources, and at the same time finding ways to grow.
Ever more physicians are including elements of precision medicine in their practice, making it imperative that every clinical laboratory and pathology group have a strategy for how it will serve precision medicine
AUSTIN, Texas (March 7, 2017) Tests in support of precision medicine will be the fastest-growing sector of laboratory medicine for years to come. Physician demand for these tests is robust and will continue to increase for a powerful reason: patients want the benefits from a test that delivers a more accurate diagnosis while pointing the doctor to the right therapy that will benefit the patient while minimizing side effects.
Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups face greater risks when cutting costs to balance budgets; one solution is to identify and correct recurring sources of bad quality in clinical lab testing
AUSTIN, Texas (February 16, 2017) Cost-cutting is a priority activity at every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology practice across the United States, as hospitals continue to decrease lab budgets and payers relentlessly pay less money for lab tests.
South Korean Researchers Develop Clinical Laboratory Test That Diagnoses Sepsis Faster than Traditional Tests
Diagnostic test incorporates artificial intelligence and could shorten the time clinical laboratories need to determine patients’ risk for antimicrobial resistance Sepsis continues to be a major killer in hospitals worldwide. Defeating it requires early diagnosis,...
Mayo Clinic Researchers Uses Exome Sequencing to Identify Individuals at Risk of Hereditary Cancer
Half of the people tested were unaware of their genetic risk for contracting the disease Existing clinical laboratory genetic screening guidelines may be inadequate when it comes to finding people at risk of hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndromes and Lynch...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 2)
These advances in the battle against cancer could lead to new clinical laboratory screening tests and other diagnostics for early detection of the disease As Dark Daily reported in part one of this story, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has identified 12 new...
World Economic Forum Publishes Updated List of 12 Breakthroughs in Fight against Cancer That Includes Innovative Clinical Laboratory Test (Part 1)
List also includes precision oncology, liquid biopsies, and early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will be interested to learn that in a recently updated article the World Economic Forum (WEF) identified a dozen important...
University of Edinburgh Scientists Associate Increased Cancer Rates to Descendants from Multiple Scottish Islands
Findings could lead to new clinical laboratory cancer screening tests for BRCA1 and BRCA2 among specific population regions Descendants of a remote Scottish island are much more likely to carry a cancer-causing BRCA2 gene than the rest of the UK. That’s according to a...
Pathology Laboratory Cuts Lead to Worker Walkout in Australia
Underfunding of clinical laboratories has led to similar worker walkouts in multiple Australasian nations Once again, cuts in government spending on pathology services has forced healthcare workers to walk off the job in Australia. This is in line with other pathology...