Dec 8, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
College of American Pathologists and associations for family physicians and ob-gyns in Florida have asked UnitedHealthcare to discontinue implementation of BeaconLBS system
Medical laboratory testing is at the center of a contest of wills in Florida. On one side is a health insurer that wants to require physicians to obtain pre-notification or preauthorization for a list of clinical laboratory tests. On the other side are the physicians who question the clinical basis for these requirements and the time and resources required to comply with the health insurer’s program.
This rancorous dispute is in reaction to the laboratory benefit management program created by UnitedHealthcare (NYSE: UNH) (UHC) administered by BeaconLBS, a business division of Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) (LapCorp). (more…)
Dec 5, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Unique pocket-sized lab could provide doctors immediate test results, reduce costs for budget-strapped clinical laboratories, and serve as a lab-testing tool for doctors working in remote areas
For almost two decades, developers have touted the potential of lab-on-a-chip technology to play a greater role in clinical laboratory testing. Now the latest twist on this technology story is that computer engineers are using the power of computer-aided design (CAD) to develop innovative lab-on-a-chip (LOC) designs.
This innovative work was created by two computer engineers from Michigan Technological University (MTU). Working together, T. Shiyan Hu, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at MTU, and doctorate student Chen Liao have created two computer-generated configurations for routing a droplet of blood or other bodily specimen through multiple LOC channels. Their invention would facilitate running dozens of different diagnostic tests, from HIV to diabetes, on a single LOC. (more…)
Dec 3, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco revealed that the cost for a simple cholesterol test ranged from as little as $10 to as much as $10,169!
Clinical laboratories owned by hospitals and health systems should take note of a public study of hospital laboratory test prices that was conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). It was published this summer and showed a remarkable range of prices for medical laboratory tests charged by California hospitals.
How about a charge of $10,169 for a routine blood cholesterol test? This was one finding a study discussed in the August 2014 issue of the British Medical Journal Open blog. The study was led by Renee Hsia, M.D.. She is an associate professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy at the UCSF Medical School. Hsia and her colleagues compared charges for 10 common clinical laboratory tests that were reported in 2011 by all non-federal California hospitals. (more…)
Dec 1, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Scientists participating in the modENCORE study have the goal of understanding the causes of hereditary genetic diseases in humans
New discoveries about the interaction of genes and transcription factors in creating different types of RNA will be of interest to pathologists and clinical chemists performing genetic tests and molecular diagnostic assays in their medical laboratories.
The goal of this research is to better understand hereditary genetic disease in humans. The new knowledge is based on studies of the common fruit fly, or Drosophila melanogaster (D. Melanogaster), and to a lesser extent a tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Both have been used as research models to study the human condition.
Research Could Give Pathologists New Diagnostic Tools (more…)
Nov 26, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
If validated by additional research, microbiologists, pathologists, and medical laboratory professionals might soon find analysis of the human microbiome to be a useful marker in screening for colon cancer
Microbiologists may play a greater role in the early detection of colorectal cancer, if the findings of a research study at the University of Michigan (UMich) are confirmed with additional clinical studies.
Combining gut microbiome analysis with traditional risk factors for colorectal cancer—such as body mass index (BMI), age, and race—significantly improved the ability of pathologists to distinguish healthy people from those with precancerous or cancerous lesions, wrote researchers from the UMich in a scholarly paper published in the November 2014 issue in Cancer Prevention Research.
Research findings indicate that gut microbiomes may be a major factor in development of colorectal cancer. However, more research is required to determine if this microbial community has the potential to be clinically useful as screening tool for early-stage disease. (more…)
Nov 24, 2014 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
After a visit to Uganda, a research team leader was inspired to develop a medical laboratory tool for diagnosing adrenal disorders
Saliva and the smartphone do not appear to be a harmonious pair, particularly as elements of a method to remotely perform a medical laboratory test for cortisol. But new research at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, suggests they can work together to help physicians remotely conduct cortisol tests.
Intermountain Healthcare is an internationally recognized, nonprofit healthcare system based in Salt Lake City, Utah, with 22 hospitals, more than 185 physician clinics, and 33,000 employees throughout the state of Utah, as well as an affiliated health insurance company, SelectHealth. (more…)
