Jun 3, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Authors of the published study wrote that use of HD optical technology during colonoscopies gives patients a faster answer and may eliminate the need to refer biopsies to pathologists
High definition optical technology is reaching the point where gastroenterologists are able to identify pre-cancerous polyps with 96% accuracy during colonoscopies, according to a recent study conducted at the Mayo Clinic. Pathologists will want to pay close attention to the published findings of this study. That’s because GI biopsies represent a significant proportion of specimens referred to anatomic pathologists.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic worked with high-definition (HD) imaging systems, such as the Olympus Evis Exera II 180 and the Evis Exera III CV-190. The study was published in the June 24, 2014 issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. (more…)
Jun 1, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
It’s a wearable diagnostic testing device designed to allow athletes competing in strenuous sports to monitor lactic acid levels to guide training regimens
For two decades, healthcare policy experts have regularly predicted that a boom in consumer demand for clinical laboratory testing is just around the corner. Yet, in 2015, the Direct Access Testing (DAT) segment of the medical laboratory profession remains relatively small when measured by specimen volume and revenue.
Dark Daily believes that consumer interest in self-testing may actually be tapped by a different approach to diagnostic testing. It will come by serving the large number of athletes competing in triathlons, other strenuous sports, and extreme athletic events like 24-hour races. These athletes train hard and compete hard. They have disposable income and are willing to spend it on products and services that would improve their athletic performance.
Pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists will be fascinated to learn that one early product entry in this emerging category is a non-invasive test for lactic acid. (more…)
May 29, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
This technology has potential to create a demand for pathologists to do genetic analysis as a companion diagnostic in support of physicians treating patients with gene-editing proteins
Researchers at Harvard University have demonstrated a new method to deliver gene-editing proteins into cells. This breakthrough could eventually trigger a demand for pathologists to do genetic analysis as the companion diagnostic needed to help clinicians select appropriate gene-editing therapies for their patients.
Of course, it will be several years before such a scenario is feasible. The related example are the companion diagnostic tests that clinical laboratories perform to guide a physician’s decision on an appropriate therapeutic drug. Continued development of gene-editing therapies has the potential to increase the need for pathologists and medical laboratory scientists to do genetic analysis as a companion diagnostic for patients who would benefit from a gene-editing therapy.
The Harvard University researchers used commercially available cationic lipids to deliver genome-editing proteins into cells. The system works on living animals and humans, and the technology enables scientists to precisely and easily change DNA sequences at exact locations. The full study was outlined in an October Nature Biotechnology article. (more…)
May 27, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Surging enrollment in Medicare Advantage moves patients out of Medicare Part B and thus reduces the ability of regional clinical labs to have access to these Medicare beneficiaries
Smaller clinical laboratories and pathology group practices are facing an inauspicious trend. It is the fast growth of enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans that has reached record high numbers each year since 2010.
This is not a positive development because it moves Medicare Part B patients out of the fee-for-service program and shifts them into Medicare Advantage plans. These plans tend to sign contracts with the national laboratory companies, such as Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) and Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) because of their lower lab test prices while excluding most local medical laboratories and pathology groups from their provider networks. The net effect of this trend is that local labs lose access to those patients who were formerly in the Medicare Part B program, but are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage. (more…)
May 26, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
With patient care shifting to outpatient clinics and home-based medical care, clinical laboratory managers should beef up outreach lab testing services
Declining patient volume is shuttering hospitals across the United States as hospitals lose patients to ambulatory care centers and home-based medical care. This trend directly impacts the pathologists and medical technologists who work in the clinical laboratories of these hospitals.
Empty Beds Indicator of Failing Hospitals
Most pathologists are unaware that, between 2008 and 2013, nearly 130 community hospitals closed. That left 4,974 hospitals operating in the United States, according to American Hospital Association (AHA) 2015 Hospital Statistics, which are based on data from the 2013 AHA Annual Survey.
It is no surprise that below-average occupancy rates are a common denominator of most failed hospital, noted the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). The 14 hospitals that closed in 2013 had an average occupancy rate of 34%. This is lower than the 48% average occupancy rate of the hospital nearest to the closing hospital, MedPAC stated in its March 2015 report to Congress. (more…)
May 22, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
One device that uses computer algorithms to analyze bodily sounds has undergone clinical trials and is awaiting clearance by the FDA
Is technology poised to render the iconic stethoscope passé? For centuries, doctors have used stethoscopes for listening to functions in different parts of the body. However, new devices now exist that employ electronic biosensors to “listen” in on those same sounds and analyze them with computer algorithms. The devices then deliver assessments to attending physicians.
The concept remains the same. Place a device against the body, listen for sounds, and use those sounds to identify a patient’s symptoms. Since the goal is to monitor sounds, it is not likely that “digital stethoscopes” will impinge on the clinical laboratory testing services provided by pathologists and medical laboratory scientists. (more…)
