Jan 6, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
PathGroup of Nashville raises $100 million; OncoDiagnostic Laboratory is acquired
For the business of anatomic pathology, the new year got off to a fast start with two different deals announced yesterday. The biggest transaction was major capital infusion at PathGroup, Inc., one of the nation’s regional pathology supergroups. The other transaction was the acquisition of a pathology group practice in Cleveland, Ohio, by Predictive Biosciences, Inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts.
Yesterday, PathGroup, Inc., of Brentwood, Tennessee, announced a leveraged recapitalization which raised more than $100 million for the pathology services company. This transaction signals a shift in the business strategy for one of the nation’s larger pathology laboratory companies and gives it an ample war chest to fund acquisitions, as well as further expansion of its ongoing lines of laboratory testing.
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Jan 4, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
U.S. News & World Report identifies medical technologists as among best career opportunities in healthcare
Laboratory technologists and laboratory technicians are a top career for 2010, as identified by U.S. News & World Report’s (USNWR) new annual list of the top 50 careers list. Clinical laboratories will be pleased that the lab technologist career is third in the healthcare category, after X-ray technician and veterinarian.
Editors at U.S. News & World Report laud the role of laboratory techs, writing that “Clinical lab technicians and technologists are very much the unsung heroes of the healthcare industry.” USNWR’s 2010 career list ranks occupations in five categories according to anticipated job growth and median average income.
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Dec 28, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Specialist physicians in Quebec question why the outside review of ER and HER2 breast cancer pathology test results used a 1% standard versus a 10% standard
Public debate in Quebec about inaccurate tests for breast cancer by the province’s pathology laboratories has turned attention to an area of pathology testing which is seldom discussed in public forums. It is the situation where there is often significant variability in rate of false positives and false negatives reported by different pathology laboratories performing the same tests for breast cancer and other diseases.
Quebec’s media coverage about problems with its pathology laboratories and inaccurate breast cancer tests was reported last week by Dark Daily in the e-briefing titled “PART ONE: More Debate in Quebec about How Pathology Labs Performed Inaccurate Breast Cancer Tests” . Here in Part Two, we describe how Quebec’s medical specialists are calling attention to another source of problems. This is how the use of various standards for evaluating breast cancer specimens can contribute to different rates of false positive and false negative results on pathology tests reported by pathology laboratories in the province.
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Dec 23, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Results of retesting 2,856 women were made public last week, putting pathology in the media spotlight
In Quebec, concerns continue about the accuracy of breast cancer testing performed in the province. Last Wednesday, Quebec’s Health Minister, Yves Bolduc released the results from a project that retested breast cancer tissue from 2,856 women. This review involved cases where the original pathology analysis for estrogen receptor (ER) or HER-2 marker status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) had occurred between April 1, 2008, and June 1, 2009. (more…)
Dec 16, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Acquisition is a deal between two private equity firms
Spectrum Laboratory Network of Greensboro, North Carolina, will be acquired by Welsh, Carson, Anderson, & Stowe. Investment funds managed by Apax Partners are the sellers and the purchase price is $230 million. It is the highest dollar value acquisition of a clinical laboratory during 2009.
The acquisition agreement was announced at the end of last week. It brings Welsh, Carson back into the laboratory testing industry for the first time since 2007. During this decade, Welsh, Carson held an equity ownership in LabOne, Inc., which was based in Kansas City, Missouri and was building a fast-growing business in medical laboratory testing.
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