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

September 2009

Less Money for Labs Is International Trend

TOO OFTEN THESE DAYS, labs are asked to accept less money. This is true in the United States and in many developed countries around the world. Many of you know that the latest version of the Senate health reform bill recently released by Max Baucus (D-Montana) calls for all providers to pay a “fee” as …

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Lab Test Fiasco Unfolding In Auckland, New Zealand

CEO SUMMARY: This may be the shortest lab testing contract honeymoon ever. Just ten days after LabTests became responsible for an exclusive, eight-year lab testing contract covering the Auckland area, problems with its service and operation caused District Health Board (DHB) officials to put the lab on notice. DHB employees are also now working inside …

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Audacious Lab Contract Shows Downside Risks

CEO SUMMARY: In Auckland, New Zealand, unfolding events may soon reveal the answer to a long-standing question in pathology: is there a point where deep cuts to payment for lab testing causes such a decline in quality and service that other health services undergo disruption? District Health Boards, to save about 20% of their lab …

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$750 Million Lab Test Tax Proposed in Senate Bill

CEO SUMMARY: A bill that may be the U.S. Senate’s framework for reforming the U.S. healthcare system calls for a tax of $750 million per year to be paid by lab testing companies. The proposed bill also calls for a reduction in Medicare reimbursement for lab testing. One positive element was that reinstatement of the …

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Textbook Marketing Fuels Demand for BRCA Test

CEO SUMMARY: In today’s lab testing marketplace, the hot ticket is to introduce a proprietary or patent-protected molecular test for cancer. The sales and marketing model inspiring many of these new lab testing companies is that used by Myriad Genetics, Inc. since it introduced its BRACAnalysis test for breast cancer back in 1996. A new …

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Some Docs Fail to Tell Patients About Critical Results 25% of Time

PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS often do not report patients’ lab test results, according to a recent study of 5,434 patients aged 50 to 69. That won’t be news to most lab directors and pathologists. But there is something new and useful in this study. Its findings are revealing for three reasons. One, it involves a large …

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Medicare Pays Doctors To Switch to E-Prescribing

CEO SUMMARY: It’s a major step on the road to integration of healthcare informatics. During the next few years, the Medicare program is offering financial incentives to encourage office-based physicians to adopt e-prescribing. This is a positive development for local laboratories and hospital lab outreach programs. Early-adopter labs are already taking steps to enable e-prescribing …

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E-Prescribing Functions that Labs Can Offer Office-Based Physicians

IN RESPONSE TO MEDICARE AND PRIVATE PAYER efforts to increase physicians’ use of e-prescribing, 4Medica, Inc., of Culver City, California, was one of the first laboratory informatics vendors to add an effective e-prescribing capability to its lab test order and results reporting system. “As physicians adopt e-prescribing, it is a timely opportunity that laboratories can …

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E-prescribing Is Example of Need For Labs to Support Connectivity

EFFORTS TO MOTIVATE PHYSICIANS to adopt e-prescribing is just one part of a wider trend in healthcare. The drive to achieve full integration of health informatics is gathering momentum. “By itself, the need for clinical laboratories to support e-prescribing is becoming an important competitive differentiator in the market,” observed Robert D. Atlas, President and CEO …

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September 21, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

In Dover, Delaware, entrepreneur pathologist Ray Sukumar, M.D., earned a unique distinction. Earlier this summer, Sukumar was granted a patent for his unique design of a compact histopathology laboratory in a standard delivery van. That accomplishment earned recognition by the Delaware Economic Office. Sukumar, who founded Doctors Pathology Service (DPS) in 2003, has created a …

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