Jul 6, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Use of telemedicine services in radiology and pharmacy may hold down labor costs and expand services for patients, but expanded use of telemedicine could also disrupt other local medical subspecialty providers, including pathologists
Over the past 15 years, pathologists have watched how radiology has been disrupted by the “nighthawk” model of remote teleradiology services. Now, the nighthawk approach to telepharmacy could disrupt pharmacy as well. As this happens, pathologists may be wondering when their medical specialty will see its first “nighthawk pathology” disruptors.
Remote Pharmacists Improve Hospital Drug Delivery
One company bringing the nighthawk model to hospital pharmacy services is PipelineRx of San Francisco, California. Its executives believe that they can make the drug delivery system in hospitals more efficient by filling labor shortages with remote pharmacists, according to a MedCity News article.
PipelineRx CEO Brian Roberts acknowledges that his company is taking a page from the teleradiology playbook. “We figured we could do the same with pharmacies because of the technology and create an environment and monitor prescriptions in the hospital and allocate it to home pharmacists,” Roberts told MedCity News, adding that it can both trim costs while ensuring adequate monitoring for patient safety. (more…)
Jul 1, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Consumers embrace wearable health-monitoring technology as developers find new ways to transfer collected health data directly into patient records
Traditionally, medical laboratories have been the gatekeepers for the lab test data of most patients. After all, it is regularly said that 70% or more of a patient’s permanent health record is made up of clinical laboratory test data. However, several market forces are at play that could eat away at the long-standing role of medical laboratories as the primary gatekeepers of patient test data.
Today, consumers increasingly want to use wearable devices that not only track their health and fitness, but are designed to also eventually stream self-monitored health data directly into clinical data repositories. As these wearable devices are cleared to use the same biomarkers involved in clinical laboratory tests to monitor the wearer’s health condition, then these devices will stream that data into the electronic health records (EHR) of patients with chronic diseases. (more…)
Jun 29, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Drugs based on knockout genes are expected to trigger the need for companion diagnostic tests that will be performed by pathologists and medical laboratory scientists
Pharmaceutical companies and other research programs are developing a new opportunity to use information from human genome sequencing to create a new class of therapeutic drugs. These drugs target “knockout genes” and those same genes are expected to be used as diagnostic biomarkers for clinical laboratory testing as a new field of companion diagnostics emerges.
In simplest terms, large-scale DNA sequencing of the human genome is enabling researchers to identify individuals with “knockout” genes and then develop therapeutic drugs based on that knowledge.
The first commercial success story from this partnership of geneticists and the pharmaceutical industry is expected to be a new class of drugs that lowers cholesterol. These drugs may reach pharmacy shelves this year, reported an October 24 Nature article. (more…)
Jun 26, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Scanadu’s device is called the ScanaFlo and is designed to collect biometric data from consumers using a variety of methods, including urine specimens
Now gathering study data needed to launch a review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a low-cost lab urinalysis device that returns results via a smartphone for conditions such as pregnancy and diabetes. More significant for pathologists and clinical laboratory executives, this handy point-of-care device is capable of doing tests for traditional medical laboratory tests, ranging from glucose and leukocytes to bilirubin and creatinine.
The device was invented at Scanadu, Inc., a health-tech startup based at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. It is a new low-cost lab urinalysis kit that uses a smartphone to return test results on liver, kidneys, urinary tract, and metabolic functions. The company uses imaging and sound analysis, molecular diagnostics, data analytics, and a suite of algorithms to create devices that offer consumers comprehensive, real-time health data on mobile devices. (more…)
Jun 24, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
This and similar research initiatives expected to increase the number of genetic markers that would be useful for creating clinical pathology laboratory tests and therapeutic drugs
Whole human genome sequencing continues to become faster, easier, cheaper, and more accurate to do. Because of these advances, the sheer number of human genomes being sequenced is skyrocketing. This huge increase in data is helping researchers unlock many new insights that, in turn, are fueling efforts to develop useful new medical laboratory tests and therapeutic drugs.
This is happening at the University of Washington (UW), where researchers using new genome sequencing technology are uncovering thousands of never-before-seen genetic variants. The application of “long read” gene sequencing technologies is allowing these researchers to identify genetic variants previously unknown, and that are made up of between 50 and 5,000 base pairs.
The discovery is important for two reasons. First, it could close existing gaps in the genome map. Second, it could help scientists identify new genomic variations that are closely associated with difficult-to-diagnose diseases. Of interest to pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals, such discoveries could point to expanded use of genetic testing for diagnosis and treatment of disease. (more…)
Jun 22, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
Innovative medical laboratories shared their successes in improving lab test utilization that included physician engagement and close monitoring of key metrics
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLORIDA—One big challenge facing medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups in the United States today is the need to transition from a transaction-based business model (increasing specimen volume leads to increasing revenue) to a value-based business model (helping providers improve their use of clinical laboratory tests in ways that measurably improve patient outcomes while controlling or reducing the cost of care.)
Two trends reinforce the need for clinical laboratories to craft strategies to develop new ways to add value to lab testing services.
One trend is the move by Medicare and private health insurers to shift reimbursement for providers away from fee-for-service and toward bundled reimbursement and budgeted reimbursement.
The second trend is the emergence of integrated clinical care organizations. The most visible of these are accountable care organizations (ACO) and patient-centered medical homes (PCMH). What these care delivery organizations have in common is that they require hospitals, physicians, clinical laboratories, imaging centers, nursing homes and other types of providers to work together more effectively so that patients receive healthcare in a seamless fashion because there is a continuum: primary care to specialty care to acute care and back again. (more…)
