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

February 2011

Low Lab Test Prices and Uninsured Patients

LOW PRICES FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTS ARE CAUSING PROBLEMS for labs in California and Ohio. In this issue of THE DARK REPORT, you will learn about both situations. The California situation has gotten lots of play, but the Ohio situation is breaking news. In California, both the California Attorney General and the Department of Health …

Low Lab Test Prices and Uninsured Patients Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

Helping Uninsured Access Affordable Lab Tests

CEO SUMMARY: Here’s an innovative way to help uninsured and underinsured patients gain access to affordably priced laboratory tests. In Akron, Ohio, physicians organized a partnership between the Summit Country Medical Society and PrePaidLab, LLC, to offer laboratory tests at prices that are comparable to Medicare. Everything worked well until CNN broadcast a laudatory story …

Helping Uninsured Access Affordable Lab Tests Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

How One Akron Physician Helped Uninsured Patients

CEO SUMMARY: For one primary care physician, treating uninsured and underinsured patients was challenging, since these patients could not afford to pay for the lab tests necessary for their healthcare. This physician enlisted the help of his local county medical society and eventually found an Internet-based lab test company and a physician office laboratory (POL) …

How One Akron Physician Helped Uninsured Patients Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

Pennsylvania Lab Earns ISO 15189 Accreditation

CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories often promote themselves as being able to deliver quality results. But simply saying so is not the same as having an outside organization audit the laboratory to accredit its analytical processes and its other operational activities. NMS Labs in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, pursued accreditation to ISO 15189 Medical Laboratories to gain …

Pennsylvania Lab Earns ISO 15189 Accreditation Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

Continuing Uncertainty For California Lab Firms

CEO SUMMARY: In its ongoing initiative to determine if clinical labs in California have violated the lowest-price regulation, the California Department of Health Care Services is preparing to send out revised letters to as many as 300 laboratory companies in the state. The letters will ask the labs to conduct a self-audit and send the …

Continuing Uncertainty For California Lab Firms Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

Judge Rules Against FTC In Westcliff Laboratory Case

IN A COURT RULING THAT WENT AGAINST the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last week, Laboratory Corporation of America may have moved one step closer to completing its acquisition of Westcliff Medical Laboratories, Inc., of Santa Ana, California. On February 22, 2011, Judge Andrew Guilford of the U.S. District Court for Central California, denied the FTC’s …

Judge Rules Against FTC In Westcliff Laboratory Case Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

Seeking Market Clout, Labs Form Networks

CEO SUMMARY: Meet “Test Exchange Networks!” These are shared laboratory testing networks that have spontaneously appeared in different communities across the nation. Typically two or more local laboratories come together and begin to collaborate by sharing any number of resources. These collaborative networks can include community hospital laboratories, local pathology group practices, and even physicians’ …

Seeking Market Clout, Labs Form Networks Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

February 28, 2011 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

In recent months, deficiencies in forensic pathology have made news in both the United States and Canada. In a story released February 5, 2011, on CaliforniaWatch.com, reporter Ryan Gabrielson wrote that “Coroners in Northern California are farming out thousands of cases each year to a private firm whose doctors have dissected the wrong body and …

February 28, 2011 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News” Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

More IVD Consolidation as Danaher Buys Beckman

TODAY IT WAS ANNOUNCED that Danaher Corporation would acquire Beckman Coulter, Inc., in a transaction valued at $5.8 billion. The news was not a surprise, since word had leaked out last December that Beckman’s board of director had engaged Goldman Sachs to advise it about a potential sale. For lab administrators and pathologists, the significance …

More IVD Consolidation as Danaher Buys Beckman Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

$241 Million May Settle Quest Medi-Cal Claims

CEO SUMMARY: There’s movement in the negotiations between California state officials and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated over allegations that discounted lab test prices violated state law. In January, Quest disclosed that it had an “understanding” with California regulators and the amount of $241 million is part of the terms. It was also revealed that Medi-Cal payments …

$241 Million May Settle Quest Medi-Cal Claims Read More »

To access this post, you must purchase The Dark Report.

;