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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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 22, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
U.K.’s most popular pathology laboratory management event set for January 26-27, 2010 in Birmingham
In the United Kingdom and Europe, pathology and clinical laboratory services are transforming at a steady rate. This is particularly true in the England, where the National Health Service (NHS) is actively emphasizing earlier diagnosis and intervention and chronic disease management in primary care by general practitioners. In turn, pathology laboratories in that country are aligning laboratory testing services to improve clinical outcomes and support new and evolving healthcare priorities.
These and other important developments in laboratory medicine will be front and center at the upcoming Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine 2010 (FILM), which takes place on January 26-27, 2010 at the Austin Court in Birmingham, England. FiLM brings together innovators and leaders in pathology testing from the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America to share their most important breakthroughs in pathology management and operations.
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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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Dec 14, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Response to comments from Dennis Ernst of the Center for Phlebotomy Education
Recently Dark Daily alerted clinical laboratory readers to a decision by The Joint Commission to change their requirements for patient identification. Included was the opinion of Dennis Ernst, MT(ASCP), long time Director of the Center for Phlebotomy Education, that The Joint Commission’s decision to change patient identification requirements was a step backwards in patient safety. (See Dark Daily, “Joint Commission Changes Requirement for Patient ID during Blood Draws” ).
In particular, Ernst was troubled that the new patient identification protocols no longer require a healthcare worker to have the patient state his or her name before blood is drawn. He contacted The Joint Commission to inquire about this change. He related to Dark Daily that officials at TJC had informed him that, in their surveys of clients, there was a feeling that this specific requirement was “burdensome and unnecessary.”
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