Oct 6, 2014 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The challenge facing medical lab managers and pathologists is to intelligently cut costs in their labs without laying off med techs, histotechs, and other lab scientists
By any measure, this year’s budget season is a tough one for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Most labs are scrambling to adjust to reduced reimbursement and directives from their parent hospitals and health systems to shrink their lab budgets for 2015.
It’s why smart cost-cutting tops the list of challenges at all medical laboratory managers and pathologists. Lab leaders need effective approaches to trim spending in their lab without the need to lay off skilled medical technologists and other experienced lab scientists. (more…)
Oct 3, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Researchers at two different universities find circulating tumor cells in blood specimens and suggest that CTCs might be incorporated into medical laboratory tests for detecting cancer
One goal of many research initiatives is to develop a clinical laboratory test which can detect circulating tumor cells (CTC) in blood. This would be a less invasive method for testing and it is hoped such a test could detect cancer at a much earlier stage, when treatment can be much more successful.
Much effort is being put into developing what pathologists call a “liquid biopsy.” Recently, researchers at The University of Manchester in the United Kingdom (UK) and at Stanford University in the United States each published articles in Nature Medicine offering compelling data about the role blood tests could play in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer. (more…)
Oct 1, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
With other companies also advancing ingestible and wearable technology, these new sources of useful diagnostic information may soon become available to pathologists and medical lab professionals
Ingestible sensors are now in the marketplace! These devices are designed to be swallowed by the patient. The device will then send the patient’s vital health data to a smartphone. No imagination is needed by pathologists to understand how such devices could generate diagnostic data in real time that could supplement traditional medical laboratory tests.
These ingestible sensors are designed with the goal of helping track both the adherence of patients to their prescription drug regimens and the effectiveness of these prescription drugs.
Proteus Digital Heath of Redwood City, California, is one company that has introduced an ingestible sensor that sends a person’s vital health data to a smartphone, reported Smart Planet in a story it recently published. (more…)
Sep 26, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals can expect to see new molecular test development as researchers develop new biomarkers in the wake of expanded knowledge of the genome-metabolome-diseasome correlates
One field of science that bears great potential for use in diagnostics and medical laboratory testing involves the human metabolome. Researchers are gaining more understanding of the genetic underpinnings of complex disease and drug response through metabolic pathways.
For example, scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) in the United Kingdom have linked 145 genetic regions with more than 400 molecules involved in metabolism in human blood, a story in Genetic Engineering News recently reported. The resulting atlas of associations will enable identification of genes that could be targeted in the development of drugs and clinical laboratory test. (more…)
Sep 24, 2014 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Growth in the number of employed physicians is contributing to heightened workplace tensions due to the cultural differences among the three generations now working together
What happens when Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomer physicians are employees in the same hospital, clinic, or medical laboratory? There can be a clash of expectations, values, and goals that may cause tension in the workplace.
This happens when physicians, including pathologists, from different generations and different levels of experience levels come together as employees of hospitals and large medical groups, noted a recent story published by Modern Healthcare.
This is a result of the trend where more physicians are employed by hospitals today than ever before. For example, in 2006, just 16% of doctors worked for hospitals. However, by 2012 that figure had climbed to 20%. If physicians working in medical practices partially owned by hospitals are counted, then 26% of all physicians are employed by hospitals. (more…)
Sep 22, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
More than 12 cancer types were studied in this project, which is a part of The Cancer Genome Atlas
New molecular and genetic knowledge is making it possible for researchers to propose a new system for classifying tumors. Upon implementation, such a system will give oncologists and pathologists, and clinical laboratory professionals a new tool to improve how they diagnose and treat cancer patients.
Tumor categories—defined by cell types instead of where they are found in the body—may lead to more accurate diagnoses and more effective treatments for one in 10 patients, according to the recent study. It was summarized in a Medline Plus Health News By Date story posted on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website. (more…)
