Aug 15, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
The human proteome map provides a catalog of proteins expressed in nondiseased issues and organs to use as baseline in understanding changes that occur in disease
Given the growing importance of proteins in medical laboratory testing, pathologists will want to know about a major milestone recently achieved in this field. Researchers have announced that drafts of the complete human proteome have been released to the public.
Experts are comparing this to the first complete map of the human genome that was made public in 2000. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists know how the availability of this information provided the foundation for rapid advances in understanding different aspects involving DNA and RNA.
(more…)
Aug 13, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
It took UCSF physicians just 48 hours to identify the bacteria in cerebrospinal fluid that was causing fourteen-year-old Joshua Osborn’s hydrocephalus and status epilepticus
There’s rich irony in the FDA’s recent announcement that it would move forward with plans to regulate “laboratory-developed tests ” (LDTs) just weeks after the national media published stories about how innovative use of an LDT helped physicians make an accurate diagnosis that saved the life of seriously-ill 14-year old boy.
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers may be aware of the case of Joshua Osborn. It was a laboratory-developed test that used next-generation gene sequencing in a unique approach that gave his care team the diagnostic information they needed to select the right therapies for his condition.
(more…)
Aug 11, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
This spring, researchers at the VA Hospital in Houston published a study revealing that one in 20 patients in outpatient settings are misdiagnosed
Publication of new peer-reviewed clinical studies indicates that, within the United States, more than 5% of outpatients—or 12 million people—are misdiagnosed annually. Few pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists would dispute this number because every day they see the best and the worst of how physicians use medical laboratory tests.
These findings were reported in a study published in the April edition of the British Medical Journal, BMJ Quality & Safety. (more…)
Aug 6, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Physicians oppose transition to ICD-10 altogether after a new AMA study reveals costs for implementation are triple the original estimates
By now, most clinical laboratory managers and pathologists know that the date for implementing ICD-10 was pushed back by one year. This happened when Congress enacted a temporary fix to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) with enactment of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) last April.
Currently, the federal law calls for implementation of ICD-10 to happen on October 1, 2015, according to a report published by Journal of AHIMA, a publication of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). Despite this delay, some powerful medical associations remain opposed to the adoption of ICD-10.. Among their objections is the substantial cost for physicians to move from ICD-9 to ICD-10.
(more…)
Aug 4, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
To help medical laboratories understand how to deliver patient-centric lab testing services, the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA) has launched its “Increasing Clinical Effectiveness” (ICE) program. CLMA President Paul Epner (pictured above) will be conducting a free webinar about the ICE program on August 12 and the details of ICE and the webinar can be found at the CLMA website. (Photo copyright CLMA.)
Increasing Clinical Effectiveness’ is the name of new initiative that CLMA is making available to all medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups
There is now little disagreement that the U.S. healthcare system is in the midst of a transformation away from reactive and acute care and to proactive, integrated clinical care. This is why clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups across the nation now find themselves at a critical crossroads.
This trend presents medical laboratory managers, pathologists, and clinical chemists who lead the nation’s labs with an important question: When is it time to shift the lab’s focus away from its traditional “lab-centric” emphasis and position the lab as a “patient-centric” clinical service?
(more…)
Aug 1, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Among the hundreds of lab industry vendors exhibiting, there were more companies showing LIS and lab informatics products this year than last year
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—Anytime 20,000 clinical chemists and medical laboratory scientists gather in the same place, at the same time, there is sure to be many different opinions about the state of laboratory medicine and key trends in the clinical laboratory testing marketplace.
That was certainly true of this year’s annual meetings of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and the American Society of Clinical Laboratory Scientists (ASCLS) that took place here in the Windy City and ended yesterday. Your Dark Daily editor was in attendance and saw many interesting things during the exhibition, which opened on Tuesday and closed Thursday.
(more…)
