Sep 21, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Nation’s most experienced lab operations managers, cost-cutters, and Lean experts will gather to share successes and proven ideas at Lab Quality Confab on October 18-19, 2016
Most hospitals and health systems are in the first stages of developing their budgets for 2017. Clinical laboratory administrators and pathologists at these institutions report three common factors are driving the next budget cycle: falling reimbursement, flat or declining inpatient admissions, and directives to cut their lab budgets.
“At our health system, the challenge is a bit different,” said one lab administrator at a large Midwest hospital. “Inpatient volumes are increasing, but we get less money from health insurers per admission. For that reason, our budget planning requirement is to accept a smaller budget than last year, while planning to handle more specimen volume in 2017, compared to this year.” (more…)
Sep 4, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
As medical laboratories struggle to reduce costs and squeeze their budgets, it is essential that the lab’s quality assurance/quality control program is run properly to protect and enhance the analytical integrity of lab test results
When does budget cutting in a clinical laboratory begin to undermine the accuracy and analytical integrity of the medical laboratory test results produced by the laboratory?
This question is apparently a subject of much discussion within some lab organizations where aggressive cost reduction programs are shrinking lab staff and reducing funds spent on controls and similar QA/QC resources.
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Mar 26, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Where hospital margins to be squeezed, that would place hospital laboratories under greater budget constraints
Hospitals are honing in on Medicare’s new value-based purchasing program quality metrics in an effort to improve patient care—and earn reimbursement rewards. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists will want to track implementation of this program, because it is one further step forward in Medicare’s plan to move away from fee-for-service reimbursement.
As part of its effort to drive quality improvement at U.S. hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued final rules in 2011 for the first year of its Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program (HVBP). The program is a pay-for-performance initiative that begins in fiscal 2013. Modern Healthcare reported on this story.
“[The HVBP structure] has been very eye-opening to a lot of people because we are not used to being compared that way,” observed Jeff Costello. He is Chief Financial Officer at Memorial Hospital & Health System in South Bend, Indiana. This 526-bed institution is on the latest Thomson Reuters’ 100 Top Hospitals list.
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Nov 3, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Quality management systems (QMS) attracts plenty of attention on day one of this conference
DATELINE: San Antonio, Texas—ISO 15189 Medical Laboratories was clearly a hot topic yesterday at the Fourth Annual Lab Quality Confab and Process Improvement Institute. Almost every session devoted to quality management systems (QMS) and ISO 15189 had a standing-room-only audience.
Here in San Antonio, about 250 clinical laboratory managers and pathologists from several different countries have gathered to learn innovative ways to use Lean, Six Sigma, and similar process improvement methods in their laboratories. Day one was marked by high-energy networking and the Lean Six Sigma case studies that demonstrate the power of these performance improvement projects to deliver major gains in turnaround times and staff productivity while reducing errors and lowering costs.
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Oct 1, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Growing interest in Quality Management Systems (QMS) surfaces at Lab Quality Confab
DATELINE: ATLANTA, GA—From nine countries around the world, several hundred clinical laboratory and pathology quality experts gathered in Atlanta this week for the third annual Lab Quality Confab. Dominating the sessions are impressive success stories from laboratories using Lean, Six Sigma, and similar quality management approaches.
Today is the last day of this high-energy gathering. At least two valuable insights emerged from the collective comments of more than 40 speakers—all of who spoke about different ways that their clinical labs, pathology groups, and hospitals are using Lean, Six Sigma, ISO, and the like to advance the quality of care and the service performance of their organizations.
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