Jan 26, 2015 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The advent of the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing tool is already generating novel therapies for diseases and will create new opportunities for pathologists and medical laboratories
In just 24 months, a new gene-editing tool has become the hot topic worldwide among researchers working to understand DNA and develop ways to manipulate it for therapeutic purposes. It goes by the acronym CRISPR and it may soon become quite familiar to most pathologists and medical laboratory scientists.
CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. The gene editing platform is known as CRISPR/CAS9. (more…)
Jul 21, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Conducted by Sunquest, the meeting introduced medical laboratory professionals to ideas and improved patient outcomes that result when pathologists actively help physicians select the right lab tests and understand how to act upon the results
PHOENIX, ARIZONA—Most pathologists and clinical laboratory scientists are quick to agree that overutilization of medical laboratory tests is a major problem in healthcare. But underutilization of medical lab tests is an equally significant problem. That’s the message delivered here last Monday by pathologist Michael Laposata, M.D., Ph.D., during a presentation he delivered at the Sunquest Executive Summit.
Laposata, who recently assumed new duties as the Chair of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, was speaking about the value of what he calls “diagnostic management teams,” or DMTs. In recent years, while at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Laposata and his colleagues introduced DMTs in support of several medical specialties. These DMTs proved quite successful at improving patient outcomes, while reducing the overall cost per healthcare encounter for these patients.
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Jun 27, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Even this premier academic center is experiencing a reduced volume of inpatient discharges, signaling to pathologists that efforts to keep people out of hospitals are succeeding
What does it mean when a prominent healthcare system like Partners HealthCare of Boston, Massachusetts, reports a decline in revenue and operating profit? After all, as one of the nation’s premier academic health centers, it is reasonable to expect that it would enjoy strong demand for its inpatient and outpatient services.
That is why pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will find it interesting that Partners experienced a decline in patient volumes during its second quarter ending March 31, 2014. Similar to other hospitals throughout the nation, fewer inpatients are showing up at hospitals operated by Partners HealthCare. (more…)
Jun 6, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Provider case studies demonstrate that involved teamwork and reengineering of frontline healthcare workers’ jobs leads to better clinical outcomes and improved patient satisfaction
Team-based care is coming to the American healthcare system. Among other things, this will create the need for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups to better align how they report medical laboratory test results so that all appropriate members of a patient’s care team have timely and appropriate access to relevant lab test data.
One recent study of team-based care determined that expanding frontline workers’ roles is an effective response to healthcare industry pressures. The study was performed by the Engelberg Center for Healthcare Reform at the Brookings Institute. (more…)
Feb 28, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
BIDMC researchers show that, on average, 30% of all lab tests may be unnecessary and that an equal percentage of tests should not be ordered at all
Every pathologist and clinical laboratory professional knows how often physicians order a medical laboratory test that is inappropriate or unnecessary. That is a problem because, each time a clinician orders an inappropriate test, patient harm is possible. Yet this issue gets little attention from the medical profession at large.
Thus, it is significant that researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), published a study last fall showing that 30% of all medical laboratory tests throughout medicine are overused! A different 30% of medical laboratory tests are underused, as well. (more…)
