Aug 16, 2010 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists take note: device created with off-the-shelf parts rivals accuracy of $40,000 model!
Pathologists know the engineering complexity and expense of today’s state-of-the-art fluorescence microscopes. Now comes news that a Rice University biomedical engineering student has developed a portable, battery-operated bright field and fluorescence microscope that rivals the performance of reference-standard devices retailing for as much as $40,000!
The student, Andrew Miller, developed the 2.5-pound microscope as part of his senior project in 2009, working with faculty in Rice 360˚: Institute for Global Health Technologies. Miller’s project was intended to develop diagnostic tools for underdeveloped countries. He calls his instrument the “Global Focus microscope,” Remarkably, he built it using off-the-shelf parts that cost just $240. The light required to power the 1,000-times magnification microscope comes from a top-mounted LED flashlight.
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Aug 13, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
At least seven states have laws mandating an on-line database showing the cost of medical treatments by different providers
At both the federal and state level, the trend toward greater transparency in health-care pricing continues to spread. This is a trend which is designed to require providers—including clinical laboratories and pathology groups—to make their prices for laboratory testing easily accessible to patients and consumers.
Across the nation, federal and state governments are implementing policies aimed at helping consumers make informed health-care decisions. Ultimately, pricing transparency is expected to contain rising health-care costs by creating consumer-driven competition between providers. This is intended to increase price competition among hospitals and physicians’ offices initially. Medical laboratories will eventually be included.
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Aug 9, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Testing ceases following July 19 inspection by officials from CMS and CAP
Last Friday, The Washington Post broke the news that Georgetown University Hospital (GUH) had closed the pathology laboratory that performed certain breast cancer tests. The action—described as an “unprecedented” suspension by GUH Chief Medical Officer Stephen Evans, M.D.—was taken in response to an investigation of the pathology laboratory by federal officials.
The closure of the laboratory followed an inspection on July 19, 2010 by officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and inspectors from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Hospital officials say the molecular testing laboratory in question will be closed as long as four to eight weeks. During this time, specimens are being referred to outside laboratory testing sources.
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Aug 6, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Super Religare Laboratories Acquires Piramal Diagnostic Services in $129 million deal
Pathology and clinical laboratory testing in India is poised to undergo ongoing consolidation as the pace of merger & acquisition activity increases. One sign of this trend is last month’s acquisition of the pathology business of Piramal Healthcare Limited by Super Religare Laboratories Limited (SRL).
In a deal valued at US$129 million, Super Religare Laboratories purchased Piramal’s pathology and radiology diagnostic services subsidiary, called Piramal Diagnostic Services Private Limited. Announced on July 14, 2010, Super Religare Laboratories said this acquisition will give it one of India’s largest pathology and clinical laboratory testing networks.
After combining the two businesses, Super Religare will operate 185 laboratories. It will have 1,500 patient collection centers that serve 12 million patients per year. Further acquisitions are planned by SRL.
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Aug 4, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Small employers begin dropping private health coverage and pay penalty to state
Massachusetts’s health reform program—touted as a model that incorporates many features of the new federal health legislation—continues be generate controversy. Despite its success in expanding the number of state residents who now have health insurance, year-over-year cost increases are exceeding the projections used by the legislature and governor when the bill was passed in 2006.
For pathologists and clinical laboratory managers, the outcome of the Bay State’s effort to introduce a form of universal healthcare coverage bears watching. That’s because many elements of the Obamacare bill passed by Congress earlier this year are similar to the Massachusetts health reform program.
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