Jan 13, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Improvements in technology are enabling individuals with basic clinical laboratory knowledge to reproduce expensive medical products using low-cost, less complicated methods
Advances in technology made it possible for a group of high school students in Australia to successfully replicate the primary ingredients of a pharmaceutical drug called Pyrimethamine, which is sold under the name Daraprim. It is another demonstration of how today’s sophisticated technologies can be harnessed by individuals with minimal scientific training to produce complex products.
In recent years, Dark Daily has chronicled the successes of high school students in the United States who did the following: (more…)
Jan 11, 2017 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Microhospitals may also be useful in providing patient access for the collection of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology specimens
Thinking small may be key to the next big innovation in the delivery of healthcare. Microhospitals are taking hold in Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona—states known to be healthcare innovators. As well, microhospitals are popping up in metropolitan areas across the Midwest.
This trend could provide opportunities for clinical laboratories and pathology groups to cater to the needs of a new class of healthcare provider.
Microhospitals are small-scale inpatient facilities that provide emergency and ambulatory services. An article on Advisory Board’s website describes the new concept as ranging in size from 15,000 to 50,000 square feet, with fewer than a dozen inpatient beds. In addition to emergency departments, 24/7 core services include: (more…)
Jan 6, 2017 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratory assays on a USB stick could become a powerful tool in the treatment and containment of HIV-1 in low-resource regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa
Imagine a small USB device that plugs into a computer and, using a small sample of blood, is capable of detecting the presence of HIV and measuring its viral load in that individual. Such technology exists and was created by a team of scientists in the United Kingdom (UK). However, it is not yet ready for use by clinical laboratories.
Researchers at Imperial College London company, DNA Electronics, have developed a diagnostic USB stick that measures the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as the viral load in a person’s blood, and in less than 30 minutes. The platform promises to be an important milestone for the medical laboratory treatment and containment of pandemic diseases that pose a serious threat to global health.
A story published on the mobile technology news blog Quartz pointed out that more than 24-million of the 37-million people worldwide infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is widely recognized that high cost and lack of access to medical care and clinical laboratory services remain a barrier to diagnosis, treatment, and containment of the disease. “[I]mproving diagnostics is now a key part of global strategies to combat [HIV],” wrote the study authors in a paper published in Nature Research journal Scientific Reports. (more…)
Jan 4, 2017 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Researchers believe they have begun to crack open a ‘black box’ involving the genomes and diseases of individual patients
Researchers in Switzerland are developing a new way to use mass spectrometry to explain why patients respond differently to specific therapies. The method potentially could become a useful tool for clinical laboratories that want to support the practice of precision medicine.
It is also one more example of how mass spectrometry is being used by researchers to develop new types of diagnostic assays that perform as well as traditional clinical laboratory testing methods, such as chemistry and immunoassay.
Thus, the latest research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and ETH Zurich (ETHZ), will be of interest to pathology laboratory managers and medical laboratory scientists. It combines SWATH-MS (Sequential Window Acquisition of all Theoretical Mass Spectra) with genomics, transcriptomics, and other “omics,” to explain why patients respond differently to specific therapies, and to formulate a personalized strategy for individual treatment. (more…)
Dec 30, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
In this second installment of a two-part briefing, the impact of the Affordable Care Act on healthcare spending by businesses and consumers during the past eight years is assessed
No single piece of legislation during the Obama Administration generated more controversy than the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law in 2010. It was touted by proponents within and without the administration as the needed solution to the nation’s healthcare problems.
The two biggest problems with healthcare in the United States are probably the sustained year-over-year growth in total healthcare spending and the large number of Americans who lack adequate health insurance. At the time that the ACA was signed into law by President Obama, there were assurances that this law would help solve both problems.
Thus, at the end of the Obama Administration’s eight years in office, both academic experts and journalists are writing their assessment about how the ACA has changed healthcare in the United States. This is a high-interest subject for medical laboratories and pathology groups, hospitals and health systems, and physicians. (more…)
Dec 28, 2016 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
A look at the numbers resulting from healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act across the eight years of the Obama Administration
Over the eight years of the Obama administration, there has been significant and unprecedented legislation intended to address the well-known problems with health insurance and high healthcare costs in this country. There has also been plenty of bluster, criticism, and commentary about the consequences of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which became law in 2010.
With a new administration and Congress about to take office, many media outlets and experts are looking back over the past eight years to assess what actually happened to the US healthcare system during this time. From independent medical laboratories and pathology groups, to large-scale health systems, reform and the impact of the Obama Administration has changed—and continues to change—the way America approaches healthcare.
Over President Obama’s two terms, there were significant changes to payment structures, insurance markets, and communications between healthcare service providers. In turn, these initiatives have spurred innovation and drastically altered the way many healthcare and diagnostics providers operate. (more…)
