Feb 11, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
This collaborative effort with microbiology labs will keep microbiologists at the forefront of infectious disease diagnostics
A partnership of San Diego-based genome sequencing company Illumina, and the French multinational, in vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux, plans to launch a next-generation sequencing (NGS) epidemiology service that will allow microbiologists to rapidly identify strains that threaten hospital inpatients and public health, according to a press release distributed by the Illumina-bioMérieux team.
Illumina-bioMérieux Service to Aid Hospital and Public Health Labs
Illumina designated sequencing laboratories with Illumina MiSeq® systems will collaborate with microbiologists working in hospital and public health laboratories to prevent, rapidly track, and contain infectious disease agents in hospitals and communities. (more…)
Feb 6, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Following the acquisition, Data Innovations will become a business division of Sunquest and the two companies will work to integrate their clinical laboratory information systems
There’s more change in the clinical laboratory marketplace. Yesterday it was announced that Data Innovations—a major player in medical laboratory middleware systems—had been acquired by Roper Industries, Inc. (NYSE:ROP), the owner of Sunquest Information Systems.
Executives at Roper Industries said that Data Innovations will become a business division of Sunquest. The acquisition is expected to close in February, subject to regulatory approvals. Roper also announced yesterday that it was acquiring SoftWriters, a company that sells software for long-term care pharmacies.
In its press release, Roper said that “the combined purchase price for these two acquisitions is $450 million. …The Company expects the three acquisitions to contribute approximately $100 million of annual revenue and provide over $110 million of gross cash tax benefits.” (more…)
Jan 9, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Survey results show pathologists and clinical lab managers why largest health insurers have market clout and can exclude local labs from their provider networks
Over the past two decades, ongoing mergers and acquisitions of health insurance organizations have led to ever-greater concentration of market share, even as the number of large health insurance companies has shrunk. One consequence of this trend is that many clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups have lost access to managed care patients.
The degree of market concentration will surprise most pathologists and medical laboratory professionals. The concentration of market ownership is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the 25 largest health insurers in the United States now control two-thirds of this $744-billion market. But the largest plans are not necessarily the best, according to 2013 consumer satisfaction surveys conducted by J.D. Power & Associates. (more…)
Jan 5, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Health plan sets no new date for BeaconLBS claims-payment decisions but promises 30-days’ notice before making decisions on claims payment
Physicians, pathologists, and clinical laboratories in Florida got a late Christmas present last week. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) (NYSE:UNH) postponed the date when its medical laboratory benefit-management pilot program in Florida, administered by BeaconLBS, would affect claims payments.
This was welcome news, because, beginning January 1, if physicians serving UHC patients had failed to use the BeaconLBS system to obtain pre-notification or pre-authorization for 82 medical laboratory tests, the physicians or labs performing the tests would not be paid by UHC—nor could clinical labs and pathology groups in the UHC provider network bill patients for these tests. (more…)
Dec 26, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Some clinical laboratory and pathology equipment are Class III (high-risk) medical devices and may be eventually subject to FDA adverse patient event reporting rules
Effective on September 1, 2014, providers using Class III (high-risk) medical devices are required to report adverse patient events involving such devices. That reporting is to include the unique device identification (UDIs) labels of the Class III device.
The primary goal of the new regulation is to have specified providers report patient deaths that involved high-risk medical devices, such as stents and heart valves, for example. Specified facilities include hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and nursing homes. Manufacturers must also report adverse patient events involving their Class III medical devices.
All Class III in vitro diagnostic systems used by clinical laboratories and pathology groups here in the United States will now have a UDI label. (more…)
Dec 17, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Study was published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and showed how high-deductible healthcare plans are motivating consumers to use online transparency tools to search for providers that offer greatest value
Do consumers choose less expensive medical laboratories and imaging providers when they can see the prices in advance? The findings of a recently released study suggest that the answer is “yes”—that consumers will shop for the clinical laboratory with the cheapest test prices when they have access to price information!
This is one conclusion from a study of a half million consumers conducted by Castlight, Inc. (NYSE:CSLT), a San Francisco-based company that offers employers an online tool that enables their employees to compare healthcare pricing among their network providers. Researchers at Castlight confirmed that if consumers know the price of laboratory and imaging tests or physician visits in advance, they will choose the less expensive provider. (more…)
