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

Month: August 2012

August 27, 2012 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Late Breaking Lab News / By Robert Michel

How big is the market for laboratory testing in China, with its 20,000 hospitals and population of 1.3 billion people? A new report estimates that the independent clinical laboratory industry in China currently generates about 2 billion Yuan Renminbi per year in revenue. This is equal to about US $315 million. Authors of the report, …

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Leica, Aperio, Myriad, AMP, Hologic, Gen-Probe

Clinical Laboratory / By Robert Michel

LEICA BIOSYSTEMS TO ACQUIRE APERIO FOR THE SECOND TIME IN AS MANY YEARS, a global leader in histology systems and products has announced that it will acquire one of the leading digital pathology companies. This time it is Leica Biosystems of Nussloch, Germany, which will purchase Aperio Technologies, Inc., of Vista, California. Founded by Dirk …

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Pathologists in China, U.S. Linked By Digital Pathology

Digital Pathology / By Robert Michel

CEO Summary: It is one of the first clinical collaborations of this type to be anchored by use of digital pathology. Pathologists at the medical schools of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are exchanging cases and sharing knowledge. During the first 18 …

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Damon Laboratories, Mitt Romney, and Politics

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / By R. Lewis Dark

IT IS SELDOM THAT THE CLINICAL LABORATORY INDUSTRY HITS THE RADAR SCREEN during a presidential election. So it is with some interest that I report to you that Mitt Romney recently touted the lessons he learned while serving on the board of Damon Clinical Laboratories, Inc., as useful for guiding the nation. Romney, now the …

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Prostate Biopsy Claims Affected by Policy Change

Laboratory Billing / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Quietly, with no fanfare and little advance public notice, the Medicare program is taking steps to change reimbursement policy for prostate biopsies. On August 7, 2012, Palmetto GBA adopted the new policy published on January 1, 2012, by the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI). Pathology billing experts and attorneys state that this policy …

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Root Cause Analysis Used To Find Source of Errors

Laboratory Equipment / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: It is a reminder that today’s sophisticated laboratory test systems still have the potential to malfunction in unexpected ways. This spring, following installation and validation of a new chemistry instrument, one Canadian hospital laboratory quickly recognized that a series of random errors were a sign that the instrument had issues—but not before specimens …

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Narrower Provider Networks Topic during Quest Conference Call

Laboratory Management / By Robert Michel

SINCE MAY 1, 2012, the nation’s largest clinical laboratory company has had a new CEO, who is Stephen H. Rusckowski. The company’s second quarter conference call provided an opportunity to learn more about how he views Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Conducted on July 19, the first topic of the call was the financial report. For Q2- …

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CLIA PT Enforcement Ensnares Top Labs

Laboratory Compliance / By Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Think it can’t happen to you? Think again. Following self-disclosure of inadvertent referrals of proficiency testing (PT) specimens, the laboratory at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) was visited by officials from the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Following that survey, CMS sent notice …

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CMS Proposes Sanctions Against OSU Laboratory

Laboratory Compliance / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: As its reward for self-reporting the referral of six proficiency testing (PT) specimens in three years, the laboratory at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) has been told by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that its CLIA license could be revoked, subject to appeal by the laboratory. Here are …

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CMS and CAP Comment On CLIA PT Matters

Laboratory Compliance / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Federal regulators rely on interpretations from administrative law judges (ALJ) for guidance in how to apply the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) as they pertain to proficiency testing (PT) and the issue of inadvertent PT referrals. Representatives of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the College of American Pathologists (CAP) …

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