News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

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News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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2021 ForecastClinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities and Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond

2021 Forecast
Clinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities and Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond

White-Paper-2021-Forecast-Clinical-Laboratories-Use-Automation-to-Expand-Data-Capabilities

Clinical laboratories have been significantly stressed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. When COVID-19 treatments appropriated slots previously reserved for elective surgeries, procedures, and routine tests, labs lost revenue and turnaround times were lengthened.

Additionally, labs found the technology for running COVID-19 tests as well as administering the necessary documentation was lacking efficiency. Pressures have been compounded by demand from federal and state authorities for compliance with new COVID-related data reporting requirements— a process for which automation has been underused. In fact, most technology currently in place was not built for this new type of workflow, with the predominance of lab systems based on a patient encounter. COVID-19 testing frequently falls outside of these parameters.

Fortunately, since the pandemic began, lessons have been learned. Clinical laboratories have pivoted and adapted— and yet the question remains as to how far into the future labs will need to offer COVID-19 tests on a large scale,  with some predictions stretching deep into 2021 and beyond.

As a result, because of urgent needs related to the pandemic, clinical labs are presented with a unique opportunity to strengthen their resilience, redefine their role and offerings, and further extend their value by enhancing patient safety and quality of care.

However, to accurately report on infection patterns and to track and predict infectious diseases—actionable data is a must, along with data structuring to support infection and treatment protocols. Progress in these areas depends on clean, reliable data. Clinical laboratory data that is originated efficiently and accurately using automation to collect, process, and report adds value, reduces costs, and improves patient outcomes.

To address labs’ dire need for clean and reliable data, Dark Daily is pleased to offer this new FREE white paper for laboratory professionals that explains the key steps—and positive results—of strengthening the data service infrastructure of your clinical lab.

This FREE White Paper will provide insights on:

  • Why the pandemic disruption carries an unprecedented opportunity, and underscores the imperative to strengthen the healthcare data service infrastructure
  • Understand how manual processing of data negatively impacts your lab and not only results in data incongruity, but also affects your practitioner relationships, patient care, and getting reimbursed in a timely manner
  • Learn the 3 crucial steps for improving the flow of your clinical laboratory’s data collection, capture, and reporting
  • How to ensure your lab’s data management can keep pace with innovation and ongoing new standards for infectious disease and public health reporting, and much more


White Paper Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Strengthening the Clinical Laboratory Data Service Infrastructure

Part 2: Key Steps for Realizing Accuracy, Expanded Capacity, and Reporting of Clinical Laboratory Data

Improve the Data Collection Process of Clinical Laboratories by Reducing Manual Inputs: Three Primary Tasks

Ensure Clinical Laboratory Clean Order Entry: Best Practices

Implement Automation to Strengthen Clinical Laboratory Data Quality, Data Veracity, and Resilience: What to Expect on an Enterprise Level

Organize and Filter Clinical Laboratory Data for Internal, Vertical, and External Integration: Three Truths That Become Evident

Conclusion

Although the healthcare system and clinical laboratories remain significantly stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic, flexibilities and solutions continue to develop. 2021 indicates a sea change in healthcare data collection, integration, and interoperability.

Indeed, healthcare providers are in a unique position, with clinical laboratories the developers, custodians, and distributors of volumes of data that offer opportunities for improving healthcare outcomes, making it incumbent upon lab leaders and their hospital and health system stakeholders to think more strategically.

Learn what you need to know to develop a unified data organization, interoperability, and reporting plan for your lab that leverages accurate, actionable data. Download your FREE copy of “Clinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities And Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond” below!

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Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI):  2020 Update on Clinical Utility and Reimbursement Trends

Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): 2020 Update on Clinical Utility and Reimbursement Trends

White-Paper-Clinical-Utility-Reimbursement-Molecular-Testing-for-Urinary-Tract-Infection

 

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.

Effective treatment of a UTI is reliant upon the accurate identification of the pathogens and the correct choice of antibiotics. Although culture-based clinical laboratory testing methods remain the gold standard for diagnosing UTI in both research and clinical laboratories, the clinical utility of such methods continues to be called into question.

 

 

This white paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI, describes settings where molecular testing for UTI is of high value to improving outcomes, details experiences of successful early adopters of this technology.

Find these, and many more business-critical insights in this White Paper:

  • Learn why a large number of Gram-negative and especially Gram-positive organisms cannot grow in typical culture-based testing conditions, leading to false negatives and missed organisms in a polymicrobial UTI
  • See a comparison study of traditional urine culture testing to multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular testing, run in parallel, showing that the molecular method found six additional polymicrobial cases for every one found using urine cultures
  • How, in addition to higher detection rates, PCR can provide results in as little as 6 hours, and may facilitate more appropriate and efficacious treatment that improves clinical care and outcomes
  • Why insurers and other payers are now acknowledging molecular diagnostic testing, which includes deoxyribonucleic acid-(DNA) or ribonucleic acid-(RNA) based analysis, and much more


White Paper Table of Contents

Chapter 1:
Problems and Limitations of Culture-Based Testing for UTI in Contrast to Molecular Testing

Chapter 2:
Recent Clinical Trials Focused on UTI Diagnostics Using Rapid Molecular Testing

Chapter 3:
Reimbursement Trends and Cost Versus Value in Molecular Testing for UTI

 

CONCLUSION

Molecular tests are becoming more routine as diagnostic tools, with many now covered by Medicare and commercial insurers. Advantages of molecular tests based on PCR technology include their ability to identify uropathogens traditionally missed by culture-based tests.

Driven by urgent, unmet analytical and clinical care needs, the adoption of the rapid molecular test—particularly RT-PCR for urinary tract infection control and treatment—has important implications.

Find out how this innovative testing strategy could benefit your lab by downloading your FREE copy of Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)” below.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Case Studies in Clinical Laboratory Test Stewardship: The Financial and Clinical Impact of Clinical Decision Support in Hospital Laboratories

Case Studies in Clinical Laboratory Test Stewardship: The Financial and Clinical Impact of Clinical Decision Support in Hospital Laboratories

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Current events have highlighted the critical role of the hospital laboratory as the primary source of diagnostic information. And with legislation such as PAMA (Protecting Access to Medicare Act) reducing reimbursement, hospital laboratories must determine the best direction in defining the role of the laboratory and its value to the hospital or health system.

Unfortunately, the laboratory’s critical role in determining diagnoses and treatments also makes it vulnerable to abuse. Studies estimate that from 10% to 25% of all hospital-performed laboratory tests in the inpatient setting are not indicated. Additionally, an increasingly complex, ever-expanding set of diagnostic test options necessitates heightened awareness in order to choose the right laboratory test at the right time.

Laboratory stewardship responds to these problems by establishing a true collaboration and partnership between the organization’s clinical leadership and the laboratory, to the benefit of both.

 

This white paper – the third in a three-part series developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Change Healthcare – provides frontline perspective and commentary from experts and physicians on the application and value of decision support in the laboratory. It also includes early-adopter proof points from hospital laboratories that have successfully implemented third-party decision support to achieve their stewardship goals, including EHR interventions and ongoing monitoring of utilization.

This series aims to help clinical laboratory professionals like you understand the risks and requirements, as well as the clinical and financial benefits, of implementing a clinical decision support (CDS) system.

Find these, and many more business-critical insights in this White Paper:

  • Learn to define your lab’s specific stewardship goals and measure progress toward them using robust analytics tools, in order to compare provider behavior against evidence-based guidelines and equip your lab with the means to take control of test utilization
  • Understand clinically-grounded guidelines that you can apply in your lab to help address the now-prevalent problem of too much data and information for providers to consume, the result to the benefit of both patients and providers
  • Hear how one midwestern hospital identified that B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) was frequently over-ordered on their wards, and the steps they took that led to a decline of 33%-43% in inappropriate BNP orders
  • Find out why looking at data at the facility level, then at the department level, then at the provider level is of greatest benefit to your lab, and much more


White Paper Table of Contents

Chapter 1:
Taking Control of Test Utilization to Curb Clinical Laboratory Waste

Chapter 2:
Reducing Variation in Laboratory Testing and Care Delivery

Chapter 3:
Data from Lab Test Stewardship Using Third-Party Clinical Decision Support in the Hospital Laboratory

Case Study 1

Case Study 2

Case Study 3

CONCLUSION

A laboratory test stewardship program requires organizational attention, physician champions, meaningful data, and dedicated IT resources to enact changes—with decision support vital to driving a strategic stewardship initiative.

Moreover, as you, as a thought leader pursue the creation of a value-based laboratory, instead of a commoditized service, you will soon identify overutilization and inappropriate lab testing as areas to target for process improvement and cost savings, thus boosting your lab’s value and reinventing your role in your lab’s organization.

Learn what you need to know about these value-enhancing strategies by downloading your FREE copy of Case Studies in Clinical Laboratory Test Stewardship” below.

View Part 1 of the series here

View Part 2 of the series here

Produced in partnership with:

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Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives: How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance and Transformed the Approach to Improving Laboratory Operations

Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives: How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance and Transformed the Approach to Improving Laboratory Operations

 

Now more than ever beforWhite Paper - Translating Clinical Lab Science into Business Objectivese, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and timely, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.

Labs still in business know the challenges of maintaining budgets while operating at capacity and could list the obstacles categorically: Issues related to equipment, staffing, data management, and workflow are well known, from the techs and managers in the lab all the way up the administrative chain to the finance managers and business improvement teams. Cost containment is on the lips of nearly everyone, but not at the expense of quality, turnaround time, flexibility, and accuracy.

To benefit the bottom line, laboratory professionals are looking for ways to improve overall operations, whether they think every area is running as smoothly as possible or whether they’ve already diagnosed a weakness in their processes. But where do clinical lab pros like you begin? How do you perform diagnostics of their own systems? Benchmarks can be deceiving.

This timely white paper considers how using an educational program, developed for laboratory technologists, managers, pathologists, finance managers, business improvement teams—even learning and development managers—can help medical labs measure systems and practices, identify problems, correct those problems, and ultimately boost overall operations. By following a specific process covered in this paper, you can strengthen your lab’s overall performances and improve its bottom line.

 

Find these, and many more indispensable insights in this White Paper:

  • Identify problems—some of them completely hidden even when a lab seems like it is running efficiently and smoothly—to avoid medical errors that result from breakdowns in operations
  • Understand your lab’s business as well as you understand a petri dish, as financial belts are tightened and you continue to be asked to look for efficiencies to drive cost containment
  • How an educational program to help lab staff and management become proficient in the concepts necessary to improve laboratory processes can help stakeholders understand ways in which lab resourcing and process design affects its clinical and financial performance
  • Learn how one pathology manager reduced his lab’s turnaround time from over 3 hours to less than 2 hours, as well as reducing plastic waste and therefore laboratory waste-handling costs, among other improvements

 


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Realizing Operational Weaknesses in the Clinical Laboratory and Mapping a Way Through

Chapter 2:
Need for Business Knowledge Presents Unexpected Learning Curve for Rising and Seasoned Medical Laboratory Leaders

Chapter 3:
How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance to Improve Clinical Laboratory Operations

CONCLUSION

Science has always been the paramount focus of laboratory managers, but that is no longer sufficient. This in-depth white paper will show you how to equip your clinical laboratory staff and business administrators with the skills necessary to evaluate, measure and analyze in a way that can improve lab operations and practices, and improving the bottom line.

Investing in educational courses can prove beneficial your clinical lab, regardless of whether you are evaluating possible changes, want to diagnose areas of weakness,  have new or inexperienced leadership, are seeking ways to contain costs, or wanting to improve virtually every aspect of your laboratory operations.

Learn what you need to know about this innovative trend by downloading your FREE copy of Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives” below.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Risk Management Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvement – 3 High-Risk Medical Courier Support Services

Risk Management
Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvement – 3 High-Risk Medical Courier Support Services

dark daily risk management white paper

 

The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.

When a lab test is ordered, it launches a complicated process that requires technical and healthcare expertise, proper specimen collection and transport, and effective logistics and communication. Dark Daily is pleased to offer a new FREE White Paper in partnership with Lab Logistics, addressing value and quality issues—and solutions—related to medical laboratory specimen management and logistics.

 

This FREE White Paper will provide:

  • A framework for evaluating your clinical or anatomic pathology laboratory specimen processes
  • An overview citing examples of cost savings and improved operations related to logistics and supply
  • Examples of how other hospital and health systems laboratories approached making changes, and implemented effective solutions
  • And much more!


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Improving Sample Management and Logistics in the Clinical and Anatomic Pathology Laboratory

Chapter 2:
Evaluating Laboratory Specimen Management Processes Considering 3 High-Risk Support Areas

Section 1: Handling and Tracking of Laboratory Specimen Samples

Section 2: Confirming Medical Security, Chain of Custody, and Transit Tracking

Section 3: Coordinating Test Kits, Supplies, Reagents, Lab Equipment, and Instruments

Section 4: Approaching a Medical Courier Service Conversion

Initiative 1: Constitution Diagnostics Network

Initiative 2: Ochsner Health System

Initiative 3: Hospital System Acquisition

Chapter 3:
Minimizing Disruptions Through Specialized Specimen Management, Supply, Logistics Communication and Reporting

CONCLUSION

Clinical and pathology laboratory specimen management functions are sometimes plumbed together with different products from different vendors, with little integration of primary logistical functions. Efficient specimen management requires adequate software or middleware to integrate financial and insurance information.

Outsourcing logistics and courier services in some situations allows labs to stay focused on their core strengths. These are the same strengths that maintain high quality patient care, assure accreditation standards, and prevent errors that can lead to quality failures.

As a member of your laboratory’s leadership team, learn what you need to know as a competitive laboratory to maximize efficiency, increase profitability, and decrease costs over the long run by leveraging effective medical courier services and those that utilize digital technologies.

Download your FREE copy of Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvementbelow!

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory

Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory

Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital LaboratoryThe menu of diagnostics, medications, and treatments available to us as healthcare providers is continually expanding. This creates more choices and decisions for the entire staff—from practitioners, to laboratory technicians, to IT personnel. Electronic health records (EHRs), originally intended to organize options and lighten information overload for both patient and provider, have evolved into sophisticated multi-featured tools, supported by entire departments and strongly impacting (if not actually driving) clinician workflows.

At the intersection of the EHR and provider choice lies clinical decision support (CDS). The benefits of clinical decision support are particularly important for clinical laboratories, given the lab’s central role in most diagnoses and treatments. By harnessing evidence-based guidelines to optimize test utilization, laboratories can reduce costs and strengthen care. Labs using evidence-based CDS are also better positioned to manage financial risk in a value-based environment.

To assist clinical laboratories in understanding the requirements and risks involved when implementing a CDS system, DARK Daily is pleased to offer this FREE White Paper—“Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory”—the second publication of a three-part White Paper series developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Change Healthcare.

Providing valuable industry perspective, commentary, and insights on the role of decision support in building an effective laboratory stewardship program, this White Paper series also highlights case-study proof points developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic from early-adopter hospital laboratories—points that have successfully implemented third-party decision support to their value advantage.

Find these, and many more indispensable perspectives in this White Paper:

  • Gain insights into why the adoption of evidence-based clinical decision support has become increasingly essential to your laboratory’s success in today’s value-based environment
  • Understand the advantages of pursuing decision support solutions developed specifically for the clinical laboratory environment, and the challenges of developing your own CDS system from scratch
  • Looking for the right fit, and evaluating your lab’s requirements when researching a laboratory decision support system that’s the right fit for your organization
  • Choosing the laboratory decision support solution for your lab that demonstrates an infrastructure that will be effective and sustainable into the future
  • Learn why unless powerful analytics are developed to work in conjunction with your decision support system’s performance data, your platform’s value will be limited


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Understanding Clinical Laboratory Stewardship and Clinical Decision Support in the New Value-Based Environment

Chapter 2:
Critical Factors for Determining Whether to Buy or Build Decision Support for the Hospital Laboratory

Chapter 3:
Monitoring and Measuring Laboratory Test Utilization: The Ongoing Tasks Required of an Effective Clinical Decision Support Platform

CONCLUSION

This white paper—part 2 of a three-part series— provides practical pearls on how a proven decision support solution and one that is a good fit for your lab can be the foundation of an effective laboratory stewardship program, and can greatly assist in controlling utilization and meeting the challenges of value-based care. As well, the paper also clearly explains the points for “buy versus build” laboratory decision support.

Choosing the right decision support solution will empower your lab and hospital leaders, clinicians, and staff with more time to focus their core competencies on the provision of healthcare. Learn what you need to know by downloading your FREE copy of “Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory” below.

Also available: the first publication in this three-part White Paper series, “Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence.” Download it here.


Produced in partnership with:

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Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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