Oct 25, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups must be ready to support physicians’ EMR adoption
In 2011, physicians can earn federal incentives for adopting electronic medical record (EMR) systems and demonstrating “meaningful use.” Every clinical laboratory and pathology group must be ready to deal with this new development. That’s because hundreds of thousands of physicians are about to embark on EMR implementation in their practices—with or without laboratory participation.
Meaningful use was the theme of The Dark Report’s audio conference conducted last month.
Three Experts on Clinical Pathology Laboratory Informatics
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers participating in the audio conference heard three national experts speak about how mass adoption of EMRs by the nation’s physicians would affect three specific areas of laboratory informatics. The audio conference was titled “How Meaningful Use and EMR Adoption Will Reshape Your Lab’s Competitive Future—and Its Profitability”.
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Oct 22, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Pathologists and medical laboratory managers should be alert to compliance changes
CLIA inspections of medical laboratories may be getting more rigorous in certain areas of laboratory operations, according to anecdotal information emerging from the field. Clinical laboratory management consulting firms report that they are experiencing an increased number requests for help from hospitals following a recent CLIA inspection of their laboratories.
Laboratory management consultants tell Dark Daily that, for the most part, well-run medical laboratories are having few problems when CLIA inspectors show up on site. Because these laboratories are diligent about compliance with legal requirements, the CLIA inspection seldom turns up a serious deficiency nor identifies a major compliance failure within the laboratory.
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Jul 6, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
McKesson Corp. and MuirLab working to implement lab-friendly strategies to meet payer needs
Unfolding events make it likely that genetic testing will become a good news/bad news story for local clinical laboratories and pathology groups. The good news is that genetic tests and molecular assays will bring more diagnostic precision to patients and their physicians—and that points to an auspicious future for pathology and laboratory medicine.
The bad news is that payer requirements in the United States for pre-authorization of genetic tests may lock-out most local laboratories as providers for these specialized and important clinical laboratory tests. That’s the irony of this developing trend!
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Feb 17, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
February 24 Audio Conference will cover the A-to-Z of Vitamin 25(OH) D Testing
Clinical laboratory testing for Vitamin 25(OH) D continues to the fastest-growing test on the medical laboratory menu, in the United States and other developed nations around the globe. Over the past four years, the steady increase in physician and patient demand for Vitamin D tests has kept most pathology laboratories scrambling to maintain turnaround times and quality.
To help laboratories understand and respond to this unprecedented demand for a simple laboratory test, national Vitamin D expert Bruce Hollis, Ph.D., Director of Pediatric Nutritional Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina will conduct a special audio conference on February 24 at 1:00 P.M. EST. Pathologists and laboratory professionals will find Dr. Hollis’ session to be an essential and comprehensive explanation of why Vitamin D has become a high profile subject in medicine and how they should position their clinical laboratories to best serve the demand for Vitamin D knowledge and testing.
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Dec 8, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Top labs are leveraging Lean Six Sigma to Boost Performance and Profits
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups using Lean Six Sigma methods are blowing right past the dismal economy and posting strong improvements in operations and financial performance. In fact, at their most innovative, these laboratories are developing new global “best practices” in how they use Lean and Six Sigma.
Both Stegall and Sprick will share the hottest developments in how labs are benefiting from Lean Six Sigma.
“Laboratory professionals will be surprised at how fast Lean Six Sigma methods are transforming three areas of the lab,” stated Susan Stegall, Managing Partner at Sprick, Stegall and Associates, a laboratory management consulting firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We see signs that the most proficient of these laboratories are performing at a ‘best practices’ level.
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