Oct 29, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Trend may affect workforce needs of clinical pathology laboratories, according to JAMA study
Doctors now work fewer hours than lawyers! This finding has serious implications for the healthcare industry in coming years. Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups will want to understand how this trend might affect their service relationships with physicians.
Researchers determined that—for the first time—doctors are working fewer hours than lawyers. They predict this trend could lead to doctor shortages as more and more baby boomer physicians retire. This study was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
In an interview with a U.S. News and World Report reporter, the study’s lead author, Douglas Staiger, Ph.D., Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire stated, “This is an unprecedented decline that we haven’t seen before in physicians, and you don’t see it for other professions, like lawyers.”
Three Decades of Census Data on Doctors’ Work Hours
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Oct 27, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Findings came after OIG audited the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Databank
Adverse actions taken by federal healthcare regulators against clinical pathology laboratories and other healthcare providers have not been reported to a public database as required by law. That is the finding of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), based on its study of the information contained in the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB).
During its audit of the HIPDB, the OIG determined that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) failed to report disciplinary actions it took against medical laboratories and other providers to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB). According to the OIG’s recently-released report, CMS’s Division of Laboratory Services was responsible for many of the omissions.
Clinical Laboratory Actions Should Be Listed in the HIPDB
The HIPDB is a national database of adverse actions taken by federal agencies against “healthcare practitioners, providers and suppliers,” who are defined in the OIG report as medical doctors, laboratories, clinics, nursing homes, managed care facilities, prescription drug plans and durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers.
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Oct 20, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Company will develop solutions for new reimbursement models, evidence-based care, and supporting health service delivery needs
Earlier this fall, IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM) announced plans to invest $100 million specifically to advance IBM capabilities in three key areas of healthcare informatics. That seemed like a big deal that might affect clinical pathology, since IBM is one of the information technology (IT) giants in the United States.
However, Dark Daily editors made a surprising discovery as they researched the news of IBM’s new $100 million healthcare IT investment initiative. IBM has a habit of making $100 million investments in recent years! It has learned that dropping a press release that announces a $100 million IT investment initiative generates plenty of press coverage.
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Oct 13, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Surgical pathologists could gain new tool to diagnose many types of cancers
It might soon be possible to determine the HER2 status of breast cancer patients from blood samples rather than tissue biopsies. If this new technology proves feasible, it would give surgical pathologists and medical laboratories a different, and possibly less complex, methodology to use when assessing a case of breast cancer.
In its report about the study, Medscape Medical News, wrote that “HER2 status derived from circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from breast cancer patients was generally concordant with that derived from tumor tissue” and that “CTCs could prove to be an alternative to biopsies for assessing tumor tissue for biomarker status.”
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Oct 11, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
GSTS Pathology Inks Pathology Testing Services Pact with KingsPath in London
In the United Kingdom, clinical pathology laboratories are facing major changes in ownership, operation, and how they are funded. One very visible sign of these coming changes is the latest expansion in the nation’s largest public/private pathology testing joint venture that took effect just two weeks ago.
On September 24, Serco Group, plc, announced that KingsPath, the pathology service arm of the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, was entering a pathology joint venture with GSTS Pathology. This partnership became effective on October 1.
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