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

September 2011

Does Anyone Know the Law in California?

WHAT IS THE LAW IN CALIFORNIA THAT DEFINES PROVIDER PRICING and how Medi-Cal should be billed? You probably think that question would be rather easy to answer after you read one of the state statutes that governs pricing relative to Medi-Cal claims. Popularly known among the lab industry as 51501(a), it requires that “no provider …

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September 26, 2011 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Here’s a laboratory with what may be one of the world’s biggest accounts receivable problems. In South Africa, the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) says it is owed $1.8 billion Rand (about US $214 million) from its client accounts. As reported by a regional television station (eyewitness- news.co.za) in the country, South Africa’s various provincial …

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TriCore Earns Multi-Site CAP 15189 Accreditation

CEO SUMMARY: To achieve the goals of continuous improvement and standardization across all facilities within its organization, TriCore Reference Laboratories opted to implement the CAP 15189 quality management system (QMS). Last month, the lab announced its accreditation to CAP 15189 and became the nation’s first laboratory organization to earn a multi-site CAP 15189 accreditation. TriCore’s …

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ELINCS Specifications Released in California

CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories and pathology groups have a new tool to use for interfacing their LIS (laboratory information systems) with the electronic health record (EHR) systems of their office-based physician clients. It is ELINCS, an IT standard designed to support electronic lab test orders and lab test reporting. The California HealthCare Foundation sponsored the …

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Thermo Fisher, Intrinsic Bioprobes, Kaiser Permanente, UCSF, CLMA, ASCLS

THERMO FISHER BUYS INTRINSIC BIOPROBES, CONTINUES BUYING SPREE IT’S ANOTHER ACQUISITION FOR Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts. It purchased Intrinsic Bioprobes, Inc., of Rochester, New York, earlier this month. A manufacturer of immuno-enrichment and sample-preparation tools for quantitative mass spectrometry, Intrinsic Bioprobes’ products will allow Thermo Fisher to offer improved quantitative protein biomarker …

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Using Accurate Data to Grow Lab Outreach

CEO SUMMARY: In recent years, the laboratory outreach program at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, has achieved impressive rates of growth in specimen volume and net revenue. One reason for this success is that the lab outreach program monitors key data in real time and responds nimbly to the …

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POC Testing Plays Role In Penna. Patient’s Death

CEO SUMMARY: In the report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the death of a patient at Lehigh Valley Hospital, it was noted that the clinical staff failed to notice discrepancies between results from point-of-care (POC) tests at the bedside and lab test results from blood serum run in the hospital’s central laboratory. Experts …

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National Group Names Riedel “Whistleblower of the Year”

WHISTLEBLOWING HAS ITS REWARDS. During 2011, one laboratory whistleblower not only harvested tens of millions of dollars in settlement awards, but he was recently honored by a national group for these same efforts. Chris Riedel, President of Hunter Laboratories, Inc., in Campbell, California, was recognized last month for his actions associated with the whistleblower lawsuit …

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LabCorp Inks Agreement In Medi-Cal Pricing Case

CEO SUMMARY: In its “Settlement Agreement and Release” with the California Attorney General (AG), Laboratory Corporation of America has negotiated terms that essentially match the agreement that exists between Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and the California AG. These settlements signal the end of chapter one in the story about deeply-discounted lab test pricing that is less …

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Healthcare Reform and Laboratory Testing

WE ARE ONLY 120 DAYS FROM IMPLEMENTING another round of programs mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 and associated legislation. Certain programs become effective on January 1, 2012. On that date, the transition to HIPAA form 5010 takes effect. All clinical laboratories and pathology groups should be prepared for …

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