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

February 2009

Are Labs To Be Punished for Vitamin D Testing?

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / R. Lewis Dark

HERE’S AN INTERESTING QUESTION: Are labs to be punished because patients want to know if their Vitamin D levels are sufficient? Consider this: THE DARK REPORT predicted last year that labs might suffer a backlash from payers as a result of increased demand for Vitamin D testing. In a briefing titled: “Vitamin D Test Volumes […]

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Molecular Advances Soon To Reshape Anatomic Path

Molecular Diagnostics / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Early this month, the second annual Molecular Summit assembled molecular first movers and early adopters to discuss their efforts to integrate molecular imaging and molecular diagnostics in patient care. One clear message emerged from two days of presentations and discussion: a host of new technologies is ready for clinical introduction and is likely

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Medicare Carrier Proposes No Pay for Vitamin D Test

Laboratory Billing / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Medicare contractor NGS wants to end payment to labs and physicians for routine Vitamin D testing. In a proposed local coverage determination (LCD), the Medicare carrier says it would cover Vitamin D testing only for patients with chronic kidney disease, osteomalacia, hypercalcemia, and rickets. All other testing for Vitamin D would be denied.

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Ten Years Ago: Quest Diagnostics Agrees to Buy SmithKline Labs

Clinical Laboratory Trends / Robert Michel

IT WAS 10 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH when a major event changed the competitive landscape for lab testing services. On February 9, 1999, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated signed an agreement to purchase SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories (SBCL). It was the largest laboratory acquisition up to that point. In one masterstroke, Quest Diagnostics would become the largest

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Local Labs Have Opportunities To Increase MC Patient Access

Managed Care Contracts / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Although the nation’s two largest laboratory companies have achieved a dominant managed care position, opportunities remain for regional labs to do more business with managed care plans. Two experts provide an update of managed care pricing trends for laboratory testing services. For independent labs and hospital lab outreach programs seeking to expand access

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Need Rigorous Validation For Home Brew Assays

Clinical Laboratory / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: National headlines about erroneous Vitamin D results are a reminder to the lab industry of the imprecision and risks associated with home brew testing. According to one laboratory expert, every laboratory-developed test (LDT) must meet two high standards. One, accuracy, reproducibility, and transferability of the test result number. Two, a reference range that

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February 23, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Late Breaking Lab News / Robert Michel

Here’s an interesting development on the road to genetic medicine. In England last month, the press heralded the birth of what it has dubbed the “cancer-free” baby. It turns out the parents had the embryo screened for the BRCA-1 gene before implantation—and this was the first example known in Great Britain of an infant screened

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Lab Test Methodology and Widespread EMR Use

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / R. Lewis Dark

IN BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, LAST WEEK to participate at the Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM) conference, Editor Robert Michel picked up an interesting theme that connects to current laboratory events here in the United States. “General practice (GP) clinics in England are establishing electronic medical record (EMR) systems as a preliminary step toward the goal of

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When Does Cost Cutting Affect a Lab’s Quality?

Lean Six Sigma / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Many lab professionals note the irony that a laboratory so publicly committed to Six Sigma quality management methods is now identified with the single largest episode of systemic failure in lab test accuracy. Looking in from the outside, some pathologists suggest that a decade of aggressive cost cutting and the current campaign to

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Laboratory Industry Has “Elephant in the Room”

Laboratory Management / Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: In almost every laboratory across the United States and in several countries around the globe, one much-discussed topic in recent weeks has been the Vitamin D testing program deficiencies at Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Yet, even as rank and file laboratorians actively talked to each other about what this story means, the lab industry’s

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