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

June 2009

Why You Rely on a Vigilant Lab Industry Press

AS YOU WILL READ ON PAGE 9 of this issue, THE DARK REPORT was recently honored by a national news association, which awarded it first place for “Best Investigative Reporting” against some tough competition. Indulge me, for a moment, as I explain to you why this is a big deal. As a laboratory leader, you …

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Healthcare Reform and Threats to Lab Testing

CEO SUMMARY: Annual healthcare spending now pushes past $2.5 trillion and this summer’s debate about how to best reform healthcare in the United States will be raucous and emotional. For the laboratory testing industry, the stakes are immense. THE DARK REPORT identifies two primary threats to the lab testing profession. One is spending cuts to …

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CBL Path, Plus Diagnostics, Alpha Innotech, DNA Direct, Humana

NEW PATHOLOGY LABS OPEN ON EAST COAST TIMES MUST BE GOOD for anatomic pathology companies—at least two companies have each announced the opening of a new laboratory facility. On the East Coast, it was CBL Path, Inc., of Rye Brook, New York, which expanded. On May 29, it announced the opening of its new laboratory …

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New Phlebotomist Policy Achieves Zero Error Rate

CEO SUMMARY: It’s not often when a hospital laboratory can use a patient safety project to achieve zero defects for more than one year. But that’s what happened at Desert View Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada, when it went an entire year with no contaminants in draws for blood culture. DVH has 25 beds and …

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DARK REPORT and Editor Michel Earn National Reporting Award

FOR THE SECOND TIME in recent years, Editor Robert L. Michel and THE DARK REPORT have won a national award for “Best Investigative Reporting.” In Washington, DC, last month, at the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA) annual conference, Editor Michel learned that judges had bestowed the First Place award for “Best Investigative Reporting” to THE …

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Educated Consumers Buying 250-Bioassay Lab Test Panel

CEO SUMMARY: Biophysical Corporation is creating a new, direct-to-consumer market for laboratory testing. Its unique approach is to offer 250-bioassay test panels—along with a staff physician review of results—to the educated, informed consumer. Testing multiple biomarkers makes it possible to identify disease and predict risk in asymptomatic patients. High profile customers such as Oprah Winfrey …

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Teamwork Between Labs Helped NYC Flu Response

CEO SUMMARY: Shaped by the experiences of 9/11 and the anthrax outbreak in 2001, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene revised and improved its preparedness plan. With the outbreak of influenza A/Novel H1N1 this spring, the Public Health Department benefited from effective collaboration with area hospitals and commercial laboratories. The public …

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June 29, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

In recent weeks, the laboratory at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, Ohio, received its accreditation for ISO 15189: Medical Laboratories. With this achievement, Blanchard Valley becomes only the third lab in the United States to become ISO 15189-accredited. Blanchard Valley’s laboratory used the ISO 15189 accreditation services provided by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). …

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Dodging the A/H1N1 Influenza Bullet

DID THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD DODGE A BULLET because the first outbreak of A/H1N1 influenza was neither as lethal nor as virulent as long-predicted by public health officials? That might be true today. But wait until the next flu season. No one knows if the A/H1N1 virus will mutate in ways that make …

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Influenza A/H1N1 Outbreak Offers Lessons for Labs

CEO SUMMARY: As influenza A/H1N1 spread, clinical labs nationwide learned that they did not have the capacity to test for an outbreak of flu that generated a 10-fold increase in sample volume. To move the samples through the system, many clinical labs ran extra shifts and ran short of supplies. It was a similar situation …

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