Dec 23, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
SoloHealth Stations are in 3,200 retail stores nationwide and growing
There’s a hot new consumer health product working its way into pharmacies across the nation. Say goodbye to the ubiquitous self-serve blood pressure stations found next to the pharmacy counter. Say hello to the next generation of consumer self-serve health kiosks.
This trend may open a door for innovative clinical laboratories to add their service offerings to the kiosks in their communities. One example of the fast adoption of these new kiosks is the SoloHealth Station. SoloHealth has already placed its kiosks in 3,200 retail locations nationwide.
Each day, more than 130,000 individuals use them and, on average, each consumer spends 4.5 minutes per session, according to a report issued by Marketwatch.com. (more…)
Nov 11, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
The Center brings together scientists from around the city to translate promising research into medical innovations to treat, prevent and manage disease
Gene sequencing is going big time in the Big Apple. Last month the New York Genome Center (NYGC) moved into a state-of-the-art, 170,000-square-foot genome sequencing and biometrics research building. New York City is putting down its marker to claim a leading role in advancing genetic knowledge.
What makes this development notable for the clinical laboratory industry and the anatomic pathology profession is the fact that cities across the nation are investing substantial amounts of capital to create their own genetic and biotech research and development hubs. Their common objective is to bring together all the expertise, financial support, and business acumen needed to create a job-creating critical mass in the fields of biotech and genetic medicine. (more…)
Oct 11, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Predictions are that more disease-prevention programs will be developed, creating the opportunity for laboratories to be more proactive in helping clinicians keep patients well
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers take note! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accumulating a growing body of evidence that its community-based diabetes prevention program is effective at improving the health of participating patients.
These auspicious findings may encourage a steep increase in the number and type of disease-prevention programs. In turn, greater deployment of such programs could further accelerate healthcare’s shift away from a reactive treatment of disease model to a proactive disease prevention model of care.
Such developments would be favorable for medical laboratories and pathology groups. As physicians pay more attention to diagnosing disease at earlier stages, they will want to tap the expertise of pathologists, Ph.D.s, and laboratory scientists. (more…)
Sep 20, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Researchers observe that over-utilization of lipid tests by many physicians represents a waste of healthcare resources
Up to one-third of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients undergo lipid testing that may be unnecessary. This is one finding from a credible study involving 28,000 patients that could focus more attention on the overuse of lipid tests and similar medical laboratory tests by physicians.
Most pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will welcome the findings of this study. It is widely recognized within the laboratory medicine profession that many physicians regularly order inappropriate medical tests. This has been a problem for decades and is the source of much wasteful spending.
The lipid testing study is significant because of the large volume of lipid tests performed annually in the United States. Any attention to this problem can help improve utilization of this important test and result in substantial savings to the healthcare system. (more…)
Sep 18, 2013 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Family of Henrietta Lacks, who died in 1951, will have a say in the research use of the HeLA cancer cells
Patient privacy rights involving genetic information has gone to a new level. Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will want to understand the legal precedents and new standards established in an unprecedented agreement between the family of a woman who died in 1951 and the growing research establishment studying her cervical cancer cells following her death.
It is a human interest story that attracted global media attention this summer. The immortal cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks—known in research laboratories as “HeLA” cells—are finally coming under legal protection after more than 60 years of travelling the globe.
It was 1951 when Lacks died of an aggressive form of cervical cancer, but her cancer cells were grown without consent of relatives and have been used worldwide in cancer research since her death. Lacks’ living relatives sought and recently obtained a legal agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to protect their DNA privacy, according to a story published in USA Today. (more…)