Jun 10, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
A newspaper in San Francisco featured a story about the patient’s complaint about being overcharged thousands of dollars by the hospital for medical laboratory tests
Here’s how a community hospital that charges inpatient prices for clinical laboratory testing to a walk-up customer find itself at the center of a media news storm. In California, a newspaper trumpeted the story of an unhappy consumer stuck with a $4,316.55 bill for a panel of medical lab tests that a national lab would have performed for just $464, about 90% cheaper!
Cautionary Tale for Medical Laboratories and Pathology Groups
Price transparency is a major trend in healthcare and consumers are catching on quickly. This raises the stakes for any hospital, medical laboratory, and anatomic pathology group that is slow to respond to the growing number of consumers who now price-shop whenever they need clinical laboratory tests. (more…)
May 22, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
Smaller community laboratories serve many of the nation’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities, and ongoing medical lab fee cuts are having major negative consequences
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—Last week, the National Independent Laboratory Association (NILA), in conjunction with the Association of American Bioanalysts (AAB), conducted its annual conference here. It was a useful snapshot on the state of health for independent community lab companies, particularly given the different reimbursement environment for clinical laboratory testing.
NILA’s members are primarily community clinical laboratories. They generate revenue anywhere from $1 million per year to around $100 million per year. It is believed that there are between 150 and 200 of these types of lab companies across the United States. Further, within the towns and cities they serve, these are often the only medical laboratory organizations that fill important testing niches that were abandoned years ago by the national public lab companies. (more…)
Oct 31, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
New blood chemistry monitoring device could replace some traditional laboratory testing
There’s a new technology that makes it possible to continuously monitor an individual’s blood chemistry and wirelessly transmit the data. This technology uses a transdermal patch and is a different approach to clinical diagnostics with the potential to supplant some traditional medical laboratory testing.
This transdermal patch was developed by Sano Intelligence, one of San Francisco-based Rock Health’s start ups for 2012. These developments were reported in a story published by Co.EXIST. (more…)
Oct 17, 2012 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
By purchasing this laboratory outreach business, Quest Diagnostics defends its turf in central Massachusetts and creates opportunity to consolidate testing from three medical lab facilities
Late yesterday, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) formally announced that had signed a “definitive agreement today to purchase the clinical laboratory outreach business of UMass Memorial Medical Center.” The laboratory is located in Worcester, Massachusetts and the parties expect the transaction to close within 90 days.
For UMass, the sale of its medical laboratory outreach business comes as part of an ongoing effort by UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC)—the parent health system—to divest a number of service lines that were in its health ventures division. This included home health and hospice services, along with the medical lab outreach business. (more…)
Aug 27, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Fewer office-based physicians practice as a partner or shareholder in their medical group
For decades, the clinical laboratory industry has relied on the medical lab test referrals of office-based physicians as its primary source of patient specimens and revenue. The dominant business model of office-based physicians during these decades has been that of physicians as partners in private practice groups or as shareholders in professional corporations.
Similarly, over the past four decades, the profession of pathology has been dominated by the business model of partner-pathologists in a private group practice or professional corporation. But evidence continues to accumulate that the heyday of private practice anatomic pathology is soon to end.
(more…)
