clinical laboratory management Archives

From Regulations to Innovations: Annual Executive War College Convenes in New Orleans

Apr 29, 2024 | International Laboratory News, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Resources, Management & Operations, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Conferences

29th Conference Features Information on What Clinical Lab Leaders Need to Know About a ‘Perfect Storm’ of New Compliance Challenges

There are signs that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to release the final rule on laboratory developed tests (LDTs)—perhaps even during the 29th annual Executive War College on Diagnostic, Clinical Laboratory, and Pathology Management, which kicks off in New Orleans this week.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) concluded its review of the final rule on April 22. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, and other regulatory experts expect the White House to send the final rule to Congress as early as late April and no later than May 22.

Either way, Tim Stenzel, MD, PhD, former director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics, and other regulatory experts will be on hand at Executive War College (EWC) to walk attendees through what promises to be a “perfect storm of clinical lab and pathology practice regulatory changes.” Stenzel is scheduled to speak about the LDT rule during three sessions with fellow panelists on Day 1.

On Tuesday morning, Lâle White, executive chair and CEO of San Diego’s XiFin, Inc., will present a keynote on new regulations and diagnostics players that are “poised to reshape lab testing.” Her presentation is followed by a general session on Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) regulations featuring Salerno Reynolds, PhD., acting director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Laboratory Systems and Response.

Robert Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report will wrap day one with a general session on the regulatory trifecta coming soon to all labs, from LDT to CLIA to private payers’ policies for genetic claims.

Innovation in the spotlight

“It’s a rich mix of expert speakers, lab leaders who are doing innovative things in their own organizations, along with the consultants and the lab vendors who are pushing the front edge of laboratory management, operations, and clinical service delivery,” says Michel, who each year creates the agenda for EWC.

Several sessions, master classes, and speakers will look to the future with discussions about how healthcare data drives innovations in diagnostics and patient care, digital pathology adoption around the world, and hot topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and precision medicine.

Panels offer a variety of viewpoints

“One valuable benefit of participating at the Executive War College is the various panel discussions,” Michel says. “Each panel brings together national experts in a specific area of the laboratory profession. As an example, our lab legal panel this year brings together four prominent and experienced attorneys who share opinions, insights, and commentary about relevant issues in compliance, regulations, and contractual issues with health plans and others.”

This allows attendees to experience a breadth of opinions from multiple respected experts in this area, he adds.

For example, a digital pathology panel will bring together representatives from labs, service providers, and the consultants that are helping labs implement digital pathology. The session will be especially helpful to labs that are deciding when to acquire digital pathology tools and how to deploy them effectively to improve diagnostic accuracy, Michel says.

And a managed care panel will feature executives from some of the nation’s biggest health plans—the ones that sit on the other side of the table from labs—to provide insights and guidance on how labs can work more effectively with them.

Networking opportunities abound

The event is about much more than politics and policy, however. There’s also a distinct social aspect.

“This is a friendly tribe,” Vicki DiFrancesco, a US HealthTek advisory board member who first attended EWC more than two decades ago, wrote in a recent post.

“Everyone is welcome, and everyone appreciates the camaraderie, so don’t be shy about going up and introducing yourself to someone. The quality of the crowd is top-notch, yet I’ve always experienced a willingness for those of us who have been to this rodeo to always be welcoming,” she notes.

Michel agrees. “One of the special benefits of participation at the EWC is the superb networking interactions and collaboration that takes place,” he says.

“From the first moments that attendees walk into our opening reception on Monday night until the close of the optional workshops on Thursday, one can see a rich exchange happening amongst circles of attendees. Introductions are being made. Connections are developing into business opportunities. The sum of an attendee’s experience at the Executive War College is to gain as much knowledge from the networking and collaboration as they do from the sessions.”

–Gienna Shaw

Despite Passage of New Law on CLIA enforcement, Ohio State University Settles with CMS Agrees to Pay $268,000, and Names New Clinical Laboratory Medical Director

Feb 20, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Medical laboratory continues to operate, retains its CLIA certificate, and maintains that the PT violations at heart of CMS case were inadvertent

One nationally prominent clinical laboratory organization closed its chapter in the ongoing story of CLIA enforcement of the regulations governing the inadvertent referral of proficiency testing specimens. But this chapter ended with an unexpected twist for the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC), which was given severe sanctions by officials of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), despite recent enactment of a new federal law on the subject of enforcement of CLIA proficiency testing errors.

The settlement between OSUWMC and CMS was announced on January 16. It calls for OSUWMC to:

Appoint a new medical director for the clinical laboratory,
Pay $268,000, and
Provide additional training to the medical laboratory staff in proficiency testing (PT).

New Medical Director Named at OSUWMC’s Clinical Laboratory

OSU named Daniel Sedmak, M.D., to the position of medical director of the clinical laboratory, as part of this resolution with federal officials who administer the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA). Sedmak is currently the Chair of the OSU College of Medicine, Department of Pathology and a professor of pathology.

Last month, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center issued a press release stating that it had resolved pending sanctions assessed against its clinical laboratory by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for violations of CLIA requirements, including the inadvertent referral of proficiency testing specimens. (Photo by Wikipedia.com.)

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TEST Act Signed By President Obama, Provides Regulators Discretion When Clinical Laboratories Mistakenly Violate CLIA PT Requirements

Dec 10, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Pathologists will welcome this law, which provides more latitude for federal regulators should a medical laboratory inadvertently refer a proficiency testing specimen

Last Tuesday, the clinical laboratory testing industry gained an important measure of regulatory relief after President Obama signed into law the Taking Essential Steps for Testing (TEST) Act of 2012. This law removes severe penalties for medical laboratories that inadvertently violate proficiency testing (PT) requirements.

More specifically, the language of the TEST Act provides guidance to federal regulators to resolve an issue concerning the inadvertent referral of PT specimens as defined by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) statute of 1988. (See The Dark Report “Congress May Respond to Tough CLIA PT Penalties,” August 6, 2012.) (more…)

Bill to Fix CLIA Proficiency Testing Language for Clinical Laboratories Passes in the House, Awaits Senate’s Return in November

Oct 19, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

New law would lessen penalties for medical laboratories from violations of CLIA regulations if they made inadvertent referrals of proficiency tests to other clinical labs

Clinical laboratories may have to wait at least another month before the U.S. Senate returns from recess to vote on a bill to remove severe penalties for labs that inadvertently violate certain CLIA proficiency testing (PT) requirements. A similar bill was passed in the House in September.

The bill, S. 3391: Taking Essential Steps for Testing Act, was ready for a Senate vote in mid-October. It was set aside so that senators could return home while the campaign season entered its final weeks. (more…)

Proactive Healthcare Emphasized as United Kingdom Works to Reform Healthcare System and Clinical Pathology Laboratory Testing

Feb 2, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

Speakers at Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine See Increased Role for Pathology

DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND—As our North American readers of Dark Daily arrive for work this morning, it will be late afternoon here in the United Kingdom and the last presentations on the second day of the 10th annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM) will be wrapping up.

It was a packed auditorium this year at FiLM, as clinical biochemists, pathologists, and medical laboratory scientists gathered to learn about achieving best practices in pathology management and clinical laboratory operations. One reason for this heightened interest is the major reforms already cascading throughout the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS).