Jun 19, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Utica Hospital holds accreditation in ISO 9001 and 14001, may pursue 15189
When the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved DNV Healthcare, Inc. , of Cincinnati, Ohio, to accredit hospitals in the United States last fall, it changed the accreditation landscape significantly. A division of Det Norske Veritas of Oslo, Norway, DNV Healthcare is the first new hospital accreditation competitor for The Joint Commission http://www.jointcommission.org in 40 years. The Joint Commission is the longtime leader in hospital accreditation in the United States.
Among the first hospitals to use this new Medicare accreditation program was St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, New York. One compelling reason why St. Elizabeth used DNV to pursue Medicare accreditation was that it already held ISO 9001 accreditation and the DNV accreditation process enables hospitals to earn accreditation under both programs. Based in its successful experience with DNV and with ISO 9001, St. Elizabeth’s administrators and clinical laboratory managers expect to pursue ISO 15189:Medical Laboratories accreditation within the next two years.
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Jun 1, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Health minister characterizes reports of 20% to 30% error rates as highly exaggerated
Questions about a possible high rate of errors in breast cancer testing done in the Canadian province of Quebec surfaced last week. Government health officials were forced to publicly acknowledge that they had received a report in April of a limited study that indicated an error rate of between 15% and 20% in hormone receptor testing, and an error rate as high as 30% in HER2/neu testing.
Following the first news reports of this situation last Thursday, Quebec health officials scrambled to respond to public concerns. In response to calls for the Health Ministry to release the full report to the public, Quebec’s Health Minister, Yves Bolduc, convened an extraordinary Sunday meeting that took place yesterday. He met with pathologists and oncologists from the province to review the details of the report on errors in breast cancer testing and determine a course of action.
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May 26, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Modern Healthcare’s list of Top Ten Hospital EHR Vendors Has Insights for Lab Managers
Published data indicates that about 90% of the nation’s hospitals have implemented an electronic health record (EHR) system. This remarkable statistic has direct implications for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, since typically 70% or more of a patient’s permanent health record is comprised of laboratory test data.
However, the 90% EHR adoption rate among the nation’s hospitals masks a more provocative truth: only a limited number of hospitals and health systems have implemented an EHR system that is fully integrated and presents a complete patient health record in real time. Thus, many hospitals are using EHR systems that fall far short of allowing clinicians to work exclusively with a complete paperless health record.
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Apr 24, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Similar cases reported in the California counties of San Diego and Imperial, as well as in San Antonio, Texas
Mexico is dealing with what experts believe to be a new strain of influenza which has a combination of genes not previously identified with either human or swine flu. However, this emerging strain-described as A/H1N1 in news reports-seems to be most similar to a flu virus circulating in pigs since 1999. A troubling number of deaths connected to this virus have caught the attention of Mexican health authorities, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), health officials in Canada, and, as of this afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Infection (CDC).
Dark Daily is the first laboratory news resource to alert medical laboratories, pathology laboratories and experts in laboratory medicine to this situation, which has only caught the attention of news outlets in recent hours. In particular, clinical laboratories in states bordering Mexico, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, will want to be particularly vigilant.
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Apr 14, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
First-ever Gathering of Lab CFOs, Controllers to take place on April 28-29, 2009
News that the number of hospital jobs in the United States fell for the first time since June 2004 reveals several useful insights for clinical laboratory managers and pathologists. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, for March 2008, the number of hospital jobs declined by 700, against a total hospital workforce of 4.71 million.
This small decline-less than one-tenth of one percent-demonstrates that demand for hospital services continues to be relatively resistant to economic declines. However, other Labor Bureau statistics highlight a darker picture for the long-term fortunes of hospitals. The entire healthcare sector picked up a net increase of 16,500 jobs, with most of this coming from the ambulatory services sector. For example, physicians’ offices added a net of 3,200 workers. By contrast, the overall U.S. economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, with the national unemployment rate ending the month at 8.5%.
As reflected in these numbers for March, hospital employment declined by a tick while overall employment in healthcare increased in spite of the economic recession. This illustrates two fundamental trends in healthcare. First, demand for health services during this recession remains robust enough that hospitals continue to need almost all their workers. Second, growth in outpatient demand for services continues to outstrip growth in demand for inpatient services.
To understand the implications of these trends on clinical laboratories and pathology laboratories, the first-ever national gathering of laboratory CFOs (chief financial officers), controllers, and financial experts is taking place in New Orleans on April 28-29, 2009 at the Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management. This unique session will be led by Kurt Rogers, CFO of Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories (PAML) of Spokane, Washington. Access the full agenda with this agenda link.
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