Oct 23, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Improved diagnostic technologies and more sophisticated software tools allow innovative clinical lab managers to more precisely measure the accuracy of their lab’s analytical results
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA—In this beautiful port city, a national gathering of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology experts convened last week and tackled serious issues concerning the accuracy and integrity of the diagnostic test results produced by labs in Canada and other developed nations.
One big take-away from this meeting was that the bar is being raised for the quality of the lab test results produced by a medical laboratory. Issues of bias, variability, and inaccuracy that accompany the technologies and methods used by clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups were front and center during all three days of the meeting. (more…)
Oct 21, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Tracking specimen collections online is a significant benefit because clinical laboratories can track specimens in real time from pick-up to arrival in the laboratory
At a time when delivering added value to physician clients is a key differentiator for any clinical laboratory wanting to build market share and increase specimen volume, having the right courier and logistics solution can mean the difference between financial success and failure.
Experienced pathologists and medical laboratory managers know why. Every day, the lab courier who shows up at the client’s office is often the primary personal contact between that physician’s office and the lab. Problems with a lab’s courier services are an all-too-common reason why a client switches to a competing laboratory. (more…)
Oct 18, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The science behind the device is an innovative detection assay of dyes that stain leukocytes so they will fluoresce and enable differentiation of white blood cell subtypes
Over the last couple of years, medical laboratory technology developers have brought a number of FDA-approved point-of-care (POCT) and home self-tests to market.
These medical tests run the full spectrum. They include tests to detect HIV, malaria, pregnancy or male fertility, drug use or Hepatitis C. There are tests to monitor liver function, glucose in diabetics, cholesterol; and provide needle-free CBCs and genetic tests. (more…)
Oct 16, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Recent hospital mergers are creating super-sized health systems that immediately gain leverage over insurers when negotiating managed care contracts
Experts say the nation is experiencing its biggest surge in hospital mergers in more than a decade. Moreover, this latest wave of deals is creating supersized hospital systems that are expected to dominate healthcare and possibly lead to higher healthcare costs.
The ongoing consolidation of hospital ownership means further consolidation of the hospital laboratories that find themselves merged into larger health systems. That will have both good and bad consequences for pathologists and medical laboratory managers working within these organizations. (more…)
Oct 11, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Predictions are that more disease-prevention programs will be developed, creating the opportunity for laboratories to be more proactive in helping clinicians keep patients well
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers take note! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accumulating a growing body of evidence that its community-based diabetes prevention program is effective at improving the health of participating patients.
These auspicious findings may encourage a steep increase in the number and type of disease-prevention programs. In turn, greater deployment of such programs could further accelerate healthcare’s shift away from a reactive treatment of disease model to a proactive disease prevention model of care.
Such developments would be favorable for medical laboratories and pathology groups. As physicians pay more attention to diagnosing disease at earlier stages, they will want to tap the expertise of pathologists, Ph.D.s, and laboratory scientists. (more…)
Oct 9, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily, Uncategorized
Because of successive decreases in budgets for clinical laboratory testing, many Canadian medical laboratories are engaging their staffs to innovate and introduce new value-added testing services
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA—Traditional operational and business models for clinical laboratory testing are under siege here in Canada, just as they are in other developed nations across the globe. That was one important trend identified by multiple speakers at Executive Edge 2013, that took place Monday and Tuesday of this week.
During Monday morning’s opening session, a common point of emphasis was that simply consolidating specimens into large medical laboratory facilities as a way to achieve economies of scale and lower the average cost per test is fast becoming obsolete. All pathologists and clinical laboratory managers understand why this is true: payers can lower reimbursement for lab tests faster than labs can cut the costs of performing those tests. (more…)
