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August 2009

Pap Testing in Ireland & Massachusetts

IT IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL that, in this issue, you will read intelligence briefings about Pap testing in Ireland (see pages 3-5) and Massachusetts (see pages 10-15). Yet, both stories, taken together, send an important message to laboratory executives and pathologists. Because of ongoing evolution in healthcare, laboratories must continuously innovate and improve specifically to maintain […]

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Bostwick Builds New Lab Around 25 Ex-AFIP Paths

CEO SUMMARY: In an opportunistic business move, Bostwick Laboratories is recruiting up to 25 pathologists and a similar number of staff members from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). AFIP is scheduled to close in 2011, at which time it will transition to the new Department of Defense Joint Pathology Center (JPC). Bostwick is

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New Lab Company Is Launched By Geisinger Health System

WITH A SIMPLE ANNOUNCEMENT last month, Geisinger Health System of Danville, Pennsylvania, launched a new laboratory outreach company, called Proven Diagnostics. From a facility located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Proven Diagnostics intends to compete for lab testing business throughout Pennsylvania. Beyond a press release issued July 21, Geisinger officials have been reluctant to say more about

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Irish Labs Appeal to Keep Pap Smear Expertise

CEO SUMMARY: In Ireland, pathologists are asking the government to return enough Pap tests back to the country to support and sustain medical training programs in gynecologic cytology. It was 2008 when the Irish government outsourced all Pap testing to a U.S. lab company. That forced Ireland’s major cytology laboratories to shut down their cervical

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Using Lean to Cut Pap Test TAT Pays Off At Baystate Medical

USE OF LEAN METHODS HAS UNLOCKED major improvements at Baystate Health’s Department of Pathology in Springfield, Massachusetts. One Lean project cut average Pap test turnaround time by more than 50%. Another Lean project attacked errors with Advanced Beneficiary Notices (ABN), leading to a 75% reduction in write-offs, worth $1 million! In the first case, the

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Third Laboratory Earns ISO 15189 Accreditation

CEO SUMMARY: In June, the laboratory at Blanchard Valley Hospital became third in the nation to be accredited to ISO 15189:2007. The 150-bed acute facility in Findlay, Ohio, is the only hospital laboratory of its size to achieve accreditation to the ISO 15189 standard. Implementing these standards directly benefited the lab by lifting what was

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August 31, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

These days, you hear plenty about Web 2.0 and how it is revolutionizing the way people use the Internet. Pathologist Keith Kaplan, M.D., at the Mayo Clinic uses the term “Pathology 2.0” to describe how use of Web 2.0 technology will similarly transform the anatomic pathology profession. Now comes interesting evidence that Pathology 2.0 is

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Getting Vitamin D Right for the Doctor and Patient

MOST OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR with how W. Edwards Deming and Japanese manufacturers demonstrated the power of understanding customer expectations and organizing one’s business to deliver products and services which meet and exceed those expectations. For the past four decades, one thing that many of the world’s most successful organizations have in common is an

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Plain Talk about Current “Health Reform” Effort

CEO SUMMARY: It appears that a determined effort to reshape and restructure the entire American healthcare system is unfolding in Congress. Missing in public discourse about this vital topic is informed, intelligent discussion about the types of alternative healthcare delivery models and options that might successfully address problems in the current U.S. healthcare system, without

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Using Lean at Henry Ford Transforms Pathology TAT

CEO SUMMARY: Long-standing work flow traditions in anatomic pathology provide fertile ground for improvement with Lean and similar process improvement methods. That was the case at Henry Ford Health System, where empowered teams in the pathology laboratory employed the principles of single-piece/small batch work flow, “pull”, and standard work. The outcomes were reduced defects, improved

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