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

June 2008

Era of Digitized Pathology Systems Approaches

SURGICAL PATHOLOGISTS SHOULD GET READY! I predict that they will soon have the opportunity to purchase and use fully digital, automated pathology systems that can perform primary diagnosis. When that happens, it will mark the final cycle of the era when the principal method of diagnosing tissue was that of eyeballs fixed to microscopes, scanning …

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NPI Rules Slow Payments to Pathology Groups, Labs

CEO SUMMARY: New rules requiring use of National Provider Identification (NPI) numbers took effect on May 23. Since then, Medicare carriers and payers nationwide have rejected claims from pathologists and other providers that do not comply with the new NPI rules. A missing NPI on just one claim will result in the front-end rejection of …

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GE, UPMC Create Company for Digital Path Imaging

CEO SUMMARY: It’s a new joint venture with the potential to transform surgical pathology. General Electric Healthcare has extensive experience at supporting physicians’ work flow with digitized imaging systems, plus ample experience with molecular bio-markers. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s pathology department is a world leader in whole-slide imaging and digitized pathology systems. Together, …

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New Senate Bills Include Repeal of Competitive Bid

CEO SUMMARY: One proposed Senate bill would repeal the laboratory competitive bidding demonstration project, replace the 10.1% cut to physician fees with a 1.1% increase, and extend the so-called technical component (TC) grandfather clause. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is sponsor of the bill (called S 3101). Congress is under …

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ISO 15189 Work Advances at Meeting in Vancouver

CEO SUMMARY: Laboring quietly out of the public eye, an international work team of professionals, including representatives from the CDC, the FDA, and global in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers, has spent the past 14 years developing an important series of quality and safety standards for medical (clinical) laboratories. Here’s a report on events at the …

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CMS Expected to Revise Condo Lab & TC/PC Rules

CEO SUMMARY: Expectations are that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will take further action to rein in anatomic pathology arrangements used by physicians to capture revenue from their patient referrals. This may happen as soon as next month, when CMS publishes the 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Update and requests public …

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June 16, 2008 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

GE Healthcare’s digital pathology joint venture with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), announced on June 5, is not the only in vitro diagnostics (IVD) investment by GE during 2008. Just this May, GE paid $738 million to acquire Whatman, PLC, of Kent, England. With annual sales of $230 million, Whatman offers products described …

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