May 18, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Pathology laboratories that are customers of Dako should take notice of the coming change of ownership
Once again, a major player in histology and anatomic pathology tissue processing has been acquired. Yesterday it was announced that Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), of Santa Clara, California, will pay $2.2 billion to acquire Dako, the cancer diagnostics company in Glostrup, Denmark. It is the largest acquisition in Agilent’s 13-year history.
The high price paid for Dako is just the latest confirmation that Wall Street investors consider molecular diagnostics and anatomic pathology to be a high-growth, profitable sector of laboratory medicine. With 2010 revenues of $340 million, Agilent will pay $2.2 billion, which is a 5.8 times multiple of Dako’s annual revenue.
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers following the histopathology market will recall that Ventana Medical Systems, Inc., was acquired by Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) in February, 2008. The purchase price was approximately $3.4 billion, representing a multiple of 10.2 times Ventana’s 2007 revenue of about $290 million.
(more…)
May 2, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Labs are facing new threats as managed care plans cut reimbursement levels and new companies are coming between labs and their physician clients
*** Revised Version – Original Version Misstated: The previous version had statements attributed to Ignis Systems that were incorrect. The corrected version is below.
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—It was a big opening for the 17th annual Executive War College (EWC) on Laboratory and Pathology Management yesterday. A record crowd of about 700 enthusiastic clinical laboratory managers and pathologists heard lab industry leaders predict a fast-changing future for the medical laboratory testing industry.
The editorial team from The Dark Report and Dark Daily are all here to cover the sessions and provide you with useful intelligence and insights about market trends and innovations in the management and operations of clinical laboratories. That was true of yesterday’s opening general session, followed by an afternoon of clinical laboratory management case studies.
(more…)
Apr 21, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Here’s what you may have missed this week in the clinical lab world. It was a busy week…
Chronic Disease Management Program in New York City Uses EHRs to Help Physicians Improve Patient Care
Published: April 20 2012
As part of NYC’s PCIP, physicians utilize clinical laboratory testing more effectively to diagnose disease and monitor patients
Seven years into a targeted program to use clinical data to drive measurable improvement in the health of patients with chronic diseases, health officials in New York City are declaring the effort to be successful at meeting several important goals. Some healthcare experts say NYC’s innovative project provides valid insight into the future of American healthcare.
(more…)
Apr 6, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Medical laboratories gain competitive advantage by using GPS and real-time vehicle tracking to improve performance of their couriers
Like everything else in laboratory medicine, even such once-simple operational areas as logistics and courier services are becoming complicated—and more expensive. The reasons are familiar to all clinical laboratory managers and pathologists.
For example, sophisticated new diagnostic technologies require that specimens be transported with greater care to ensure that they arrive at the medical laboratory with full integrity.
Tougher patient privacy laws make it essential that couriers understand how to protect the confidential information that is often printed on the clinical laboratory test requisition forms that are placed in the plastic bags with the lab samples.
(more…)
Nov 14, 2011 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Two Senate committees seem interested in how certain medical laboratories offer discounted laboratory test prices to selected health insurers
Is it a coincidence that discounted medical laboratory test pricing offered by the nation’s two largest clinical laboratory companies appears to now be the subject of interest for the Senate Judiciary and Senate Finance Committees? Last Tuesday, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued a press release titled “Grassley, Baucus Scrutinize Practice by Health Insurers and Testing Labs.”
Baucus is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Grassley is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Together, these two Senators sent letters last week to two clinical laboratory companies and three big health insurance firms: (more…)
Oct 3, 2011 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Sunquest immediately becomes nation’s largest provider of clinical pathology laboratory information systems
Earlier today, a deal was announced which has major implications for the anatomic pathology informatics marketplace. Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., released the news that it acquired the PowerPath pathology information software product from the Swedish company Elekta AB. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The PowerPath acquisition is significant because it immediately makes Sunquest the “big dog” of pathology information systems in the United States, when measured by the number of pathology clients.
In this country, three anatomic pathology laboratory information systems make up the largest part of the market. In alphabetical order, Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ: CERN) has its CoPath product; Elekta has just sold its PowerPath product, and Sunquest has the Sunquest version of CoPath.
(more…)
