Mar 13, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
New public database gives clinical laboratory researchers a single, searchable source for non-coding RNA data, thus aiding development of new diagnostic assays
Clinical laboratories involved in next-generation gene sequencing have a new single searchable database for RNA. Experts say that this database should help research and development of medical laboratory tests for clinical purposes.
The launch of RNAcentral now provides RNA biologists and other researchers with an open resource that offers integrated access to a comprehensive, up-to-date set of non-coding RNA sequences. This is a first step to building a repository of information for non-coding RNAs that is similar to the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) database for proteins.
RNAcentral is the brainchildof the RNAcentral Consortium, a large international collaboration of more than 30 expert databases that specialize in different types of non-coding RNAs. So far, 12 of these databases have been integrated into RNAcentral. The project is hosted by the European Bioinformatics Institute and funded by a United Kingdom Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant. (more…)
Mar 9, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
New technology accurately distinguishes between cancerous cells and healthy cells. Will it give pathologists a “universal” assay for cancer diagnosis?
In England, a university team has developed a new technology for detecting circulating cancer cells in blood. Their method uses ultraviolet light and the results are so promising that efforts are now underway to develop this method into a clinical laboratory test.
That is why pathologists and medical laboratory professionals may soon have a new tool in their arsenal: one that significantly aids physicians and medical laboratories in the diagnosis of cancer. (more…)
Mar 6, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
After seeing a rise in the volume of clinical lab tests physicians order, managed care plans are develop a variety of strategies to manage utilization and costs
Health insurers are taking more aggressive actions to control the cost of clinical laboratory testing. For many years, clinical laboratories and pathology groups have been concerned about the strategies used by Medicare to control the utilization and costs of medical laboratory tests. Private health insurers usually follow the actions of Medicare, the nation’s largest health insurer. But today, managed care plans are developing their own lab-test-utilization strategies in addition to following those of Medicare.
Recently, Managed Care magazine explained many of the steps health insurers take to keep the costs of clinical laboratory tests under control. The cover story in the October issue of the magazine, “Health Plans Deploy New Systems To Control Use of Lab Tests,” outlined how health insurers Cigna, Group Health Cooperative, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare (UHC) are managing lab test utilization. (more…)
Mar 4, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers could find opportunity to add value as providers learn to use big data to improve patient outcomes and lower costs
Early adopter accountable care organizations (ACOs) are establishing data warehouses. This is a first step in collecting and analyzing healthcare big data. The move toward integrated care makes big data critical to an ACO’s success. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will want to follow the healthcare big data trend because laboratory test results will be a major component of that data.
The Goal of Healthcare Big Data
The goal for healthcare big data is twofold: 1) develop the ability to aggregate a vast amount of data from wide-ranging sources, and 2) use that data in real time to improve care and lower costs, a recent story published in Modern Healthcare (MH) reported. New performance-based reimbursement models mean that big data analytics will be essential for ACOs to succeed going forward. (more…)
Mar 2, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Miami physician asks why UnitedHealthcare requires use of the BeaconLBS system for authorization for recommended medical laboratory tests that may help identify lymphoma early
In Florida, the confrontation between one of the nation’s largest health insurance corporations and physicians, clinical laboratory managers, and pathologists continues. The source of this confrontation are the restrictive and burdensome requirements for medical laboratory test ordering imposed last fall by UnitedHealthcare (NYSE:UNH) and administered by BeaconLBS, a business division of Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH).
For Florida rheumatologist Olga Kromo, M.D., UnitedHealthcare’s new decision-support system that physicians are required to use when ordering clinical laboratory tests is highly flawed. (more…)
Feb 27, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Demand for a rapid, accurate diagnostic solution to combat Ebola is motivating research teams in many countries to develop solutions that can be put to immediate use
In West Africa, the outbreak of Ebola in several countries motivated researchers in Germany to develop a fast, accurate, and inexpensive test that could be performed in patient care settings without the need for a centralized medical laboratory.
In these West African countries, lack of electricity and reliable cold storage or diagnostic equipment handicaps clinical laboratory technicians who are testing patients for the Ebola virus. A new test developed by researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen, Germany, cuts the time to answer an Ebola diagnosis to just 15 minutes. It requires no electricity and is portable. Previously, the fastest Ebola diagnostics test took three hours to get results and required transporting samples to often-distant medical laboratories. (more…)
