Since 1995, Reliable Business Intelligence for Clinical Laboratories, Pathology Groups and Laboratory Diagnostics

October 2007

A Pricing Strategy Soon to Boomerang?

HAVE NATIONAL LAB COMPANIES CREATED A REIMBURSEMENT BOOMERANG that will erode financial stability for the entire laboratory industry in the United States? I ask that question because the Medicare Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project for Laboratory Services has selected San Diego to be its first site. It was ready to conduct a bidder’s conference until last …

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San Diego MSA Selected For Medicare Lab Demo

CEO SUMMARY: Earlier this month, CMS revealed its selection of the first of two sites for the Medicare Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project for Laboratory Testing Services. It will be the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos MSA (metropolitan statistical area). An assessment of this MSA reveals a number of reasons why it is likely that CMS believes it …

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Docs Want EMRs to Match Lab Orders and Results

CEO SUMMARY: At a national EMR users meeting, physicians indicated a growing interest in having their EMRs do more than electronically accept lab test results. On the want list are direct electronic ordering of lab tests and automatic matching of lab test orders and lab test results. Physicians are rapidly learning how to use EMRs …

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Full Pathology Digitization Is Becoming Feasible

CEO SUMMARY: Advances in computer hardware, software and support systems such as scanners are bringing the era of full pathology digitization closer to reality. Last week, in San Diego, California, an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred gathered to learn how laboratories, hospitals, and researchers are taking the first steps to digitize different areas of pathology …

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Phlebotomy Gets Heightened Attention For Patient Satisfaction

CEO SUMMARY: In the 1990s, many hospitals implemented decentralized phlebotomy arrangements as a way to save costs. Now, a decade later, centralized phlebotomy, managed by the laboratory, is making a comeback. Motivation for this unfolding trend is the need for hospitals to improve patient safety and increase patient satisfaction. Because most patients are uncomfortable with venipuncture, …

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ISO 15189 Gains Favor For Lab Accreditation

CEO SUMMARY: Volunteers for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) are in the midst of an 18-month project to help five state-run medical labs in Tanzania gain ISO 15189 accreditation. The project shows how labs in Africa and other countries are moving to adopt international accreditation standards. A growing number of countries, including Australia, Germany, France, and Canada, …

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Health Guru Predicts End to Medical Errors

CEO SUMMARY: One of the most exciting developments in patient safety is that it is now possible to begin eliminating adverse events in healthcare, declared Lucien Leape, M.D., Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. Leape bases his prediction on how pioneer hospitals have achieved a zero rate of infection in …

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October 29, 2007 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Microsoft Corporation is the latest company to offer a digital health record (DHR) aimed at consumers. Called “Healthvault,” it can be found at www.healthvault.com. This secure Web site allows consumers to manage and monitor their personal health information, including weight loss and disease management information, such as for diabetes. The Web site also includes a …

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Lean, Six Sigma and Laboratory Errors

IT IS TOUGH TO IGNORE THE STEADY DRUMBEAT about patient safety. In every sector of healthcare, accrediting bodies, state legislatures, private insurers, and federal health administrators are instituting programs designed to focus providers on eliminating the sources of medical errors and reducing the variability in care provided to patients. As you will read on pages …

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More Labs Actively Adopt Quality Management

CEO SUMMARY: With almost 300 speakers, attendees, and vendors in attendance from seven countries, Lab Quality Confab was a significant milestone for the global lab industry. On one level, it was a sign that the quality improvement trend has come of age. On another level, it provided ample and powerful evidence that labs using Lean …

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