Jul 6, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Use of telemedicine services in radiology and pharmacy may hold down labor costs and expand services for patients, but expanded use of telemedicine could also disrupt other local medical subspecialty providers, including pathologists
Over the past 15 years, pathologists have watched how radiology has been disrupted by the “nighthawk” model of remote teleradiology services. Now, the nighthawk approach to telepharmacy could disrupt pharmacy as well. As this happens, pathologists may be wondering when their medical specialty will see its first “nighthawk pathology” disruptors.
Remote Pharmacists Improve Hospital Drug Delivery
One company bringing the nighthawk model to hospital pharmacy services is PipelineRx of San Francisco, California. Its executives believe that they can make the drug delivery system in hospitals more efficient by filling labor shortages with remote pharmacists, according to a MedCity News article.
PipelineRx CEO Brian Roberts acknowledges that his company is taking a page from the teleradiology playbook. “We figured we could do the same with pharmacies because of the technology and create an environment and monitor prescriptions in the hospital and allocate it to home pharmacists,” Roberts told MedCity News, adding that it can both trim costs while ensuring adequate monitoring for patient safety. (more…)
May 26, 2015 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
With patient care shifting to outpatient clinics and home-based medical care, clinical laboratory managers should beef up outreach lab testing services
Declining patient volume is shuttering hospitals across the United States as hospitals lose patients to ambulatory care centers and home-based medical care. This trend directly impacts the pathologists and medical technologists who work in the clinical laboratories of these hospitals.
Empty Beds Indicator of Failing Hospitals
Most pathologists are unaware that, between 2008 and 2013, nearly 130 community hospitals closed. That left 4,974 hospitals operating in the United States, according to American Hospital Association (AHA) 2015 Hospital Statistics, which are based on data from the 2013 AHA Annual Survey.
It is no surprise that below-average occupancy rates are a common denominator of most failed hospital, noted the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). The 14 hospitals that closed in 2013 had an average occupancy rate of 34%. This is lower than the 48% average occupancy rate of the hospital nearest to the closing hospital, MedPAC stated in its March 2015 report to Congress. (more…)
May 6, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Primary themes were healthcare’s transition away from fee-for-service and how innovative medical laboratories are delivering more value with lab testing services
NEW ORLEANS, LA.—Two clear themes for clinical labs and pathology groups emerged from yesterday’s opening presentations at the 20th annual gathering of the Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management.
Transitioning from Fee-For-Service to Value-based Reimbursement Programs
Theme one is that the pace of transformation within the U.S. healthcare system is accelerating. In his opening remarks, Executive War College Founder Robert L. Michel warned medical laboratory professionals that they must not allow their lab organizations to be unprepared or unresponsive to the changes now unfolding across the nation’s healthcare system.
In particular, Michel reminded the more than 850 lab executives and pathologists in the audience that fee-for-service payment for clinical laboratory tests and anatomic pathology services will not remain the dominant form of reimbursement for much longer. “This market trend is aptly described as ‘volume to value,’” noted Michel. “For decades, labs maximized revenue and operating profits by maximizing the volume of specimens that they tested. Those days are coming to an end. Healthcare will increasingly want lab testing services to be high value. These lab services will be paid as part of a bundle, or included in the different forms of global payments and budgeted payments that are made to integrated care delivery organizations, such as ACOs and patient-centered medical homes.” (more…)
Mar 25, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Study done by researchers at the University of Washington determined that diagnostic concordance with consensus expert panel missing in nearly 25% of breast cancer cases studied
Standards of quality in clinical care are increasing at a steady pace and anatomic pathology is no exception. The most recent example is the publication of a study in a respected national medical journal that revealed how pathologists participating in the study produced an unexpectedly high rate of diagnostic inaccuracy for certain types of breast cancers.
This situation did not go unnoticed by the national media. On March 17, no less than The New York Times headlined their story on the findings of this story with the title: “Breast Biopsies Leave Room for Doubt, Study Finds.”
(more…)
Mar 16, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
On May 5-6 in New Orleans, leadership will be a major theme when “the U.S. Army War College meets the Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management” in a special workshop for executive leaders of labs and pathology groups
Some would argue that leadership in medical laboratories today has something in common with the opening line of a famous 19th century novel.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” is the first sentence in “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens’ famous novel. Many pathologists and clinical laboratory managers would agree that this sentence accurately describes today’s marketplace for medical laboratory testing. (more…)
Feb 13, 2015 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Accelerating pace of hospital consolidation brings new pressure to pathologists and clinical laboratory directors to maximize the value of pathology services
Large and financially-stable multi-hospital health systems are racing to form regional mega-systems. It’s a strategy to get ahead of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) mandate to improve quality and increase efficiency through coordinated care across the entire care continuum.
This growing national trend means further consolidation of clinical laboratory testing services within the merging organizations. For pathology groups, the new super-systems may encourage the different pathology groups within the system to consolidate into a single practice entity. This would help improve how pathology services are more deeply integrated into the care continuum. It would also facilitate contract negotiations between the pathologists and the parent health system. (more…)
