Jun 20, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Business Intelligence software now allows for real-time data capture, analysis and evaluation of medical laboratory operations
For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups across the nation, the latest use of middleware is for business intelligence. This is a brand-new trend, as only first-mover and early adopter medical laboratories have acquired and currently use some type of middleware solution that delivers business intelligence.
One-by-one, laboratory informatics companies are crafting middleware products specifically designed to deliver business intelligence to their customers and clients. Business Intelligence (BI) is a computer-based approach to collecting and analyzing business data. A flurry of activity in the laboratory informatics sector reinforces the importance of health IT and healthcare analytics in an increasingly competitive medical laboratory testing market. (more…)
Apr 18, 2012 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Actions by major insurers indicate that ACOs operated by hospitals will have competition
Until recently, most media coverage about nascent accountable care organizations (ACOs) centered on the plans of major hospitals and health systems to organize ACOs within their communities. Now comes news that major health insurers are making sizeable investments as they prepare to launch their own ACOs.
These developments could be auspicious for local clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. It could mean that in many regions around the United States there will be ACOs operated by hospitals/health systems that compete against ACOs operated by health insurance companies. In turn, that would mean more customers for lab testing services in these cities and towns.
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Feb 24, 2012 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Annual list emphasizes innovations on how clinicians will store clinical data and access it in ways that advance patient care
Each year the Cleveland Clinic announces its choices for the “Top 10 Medical Innovations of the Year.” In its list for 2012, there are at least three top innovations which will involve and engage clinical laboratories and pathology groups.
In particular, two innovations are a change in how medical informatics, including medical laboratory test data will be archived, assessed, and accessed. Here are the Cleveland Clinic’s top 10 medical innovations for 2012:
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Nov 30, 2011 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Because they provide medical lab test results to EHRs, clinical labs and pathologists are often named in medical malpractice lawsuits
Some experts predict that the great expansion in the number of physicians using electronic health record (EHR) systems may trigger an increase in medical malpractice lawsuits. Were this were to happen, clinical laboratories and pathology group practices might find themselves also named in such lawsuits because they provided the medical laboratory test results that populated the patient’s EHR.
Concern about an increase in medical malpractice claims surfaced in response to the speed at which the federal government is pushing physicians to implement and use electronic health record (EHR) systems as required under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For example, federal officials are directing hospitals to implement EHRs that fulfill the Act’s Meaningful Use (MU) requirements by 2012. (more…)
Sep 19, 2011 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Draft language of new rule would change existing requirements on access to medical laboratory test results as defined in CLIA and HIPAA laws
Big changes lie ahead in how clinical laboratories and pathology groups must give patients access to their medical laboratory test results. Last week, federal agencies published a draft rule that specifies how patients or their authorized representatives are to be given direct access to their medical laboratory test results.
This draft rule was made public on September 12 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the HHS Office for Civil Rights. Two days later, on September 14, the proposed rule was published in the Federal Register. There will be a 60-day period from the date of this publication for public comment on the proposed rule. (more…)
