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

October 2012

Med Tech Finds “Grace” Aboard Lab of Mercy Ship

Clinical Laboratory / By Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: One intrepid medical technologist has spent almost two decades in volunteer service working in the clinical laboratories of hospital ships operated by Mercy Ships International. As the world’s largest hospital ship, the Africa Mercy contains six operating rooms, a 78-bed ICU and patient ward, along with a clinical lab that is equipped with …

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October 29, 2012 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Late Breaking Lab News / By Robert Michel

OURLab and its parent company, Prost Data, Inc., of Nashville, Tennessee, entered into an agreement to be sold to Opko Health Inc., of Miami, Florida. The purchase price of $40 million will be paid as $9.4 million in cash and $30.6 million in stock. Publicly-traded Opko has both pharmaceutical and diagnostic product lines. Jonathan Oppenheimer, …

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Alan Lloyd, 62, Dies of Cancer, Formerly CIO of Sonic Health

Clinical Laboratory / By Robert Michel

THIS SUMMER, the global clinical laboratory industry lost a true innovator in medical laboratory management, operations, and informatics. On August 8, 2012, Dr. Alan Lloyd died peacefully at home from pancreatic cancer. Lloyd was widely-respected for his unique approaches to laboratory operations, lab workflow, and use of informatics to support clinical assessment of laboratory test …

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Louisiana Pathologists ‘Moonlight’ as Consultants

Pathology Trends / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Few independent pathology groups have developed robust laboratory consulting businesses. But adopting that strategy has brought important benefits to Delta Pathology Group, LLC, of Shreveport, Louisiana. Not only has providing lab consulting services to cash-strapped hospitals led to ongoing lab management contracts, but Delta’s consulting arm, called Pathology Resource Network, is gaining a …

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Rural Hospital Labs and their Lab Directors

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

FROM TWO DIFFERENT STATES, WE PRESENT INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS that have a common element: laboratories in many rural hospitals are struggling. We consider these stories, when taken together, to be persuasive evidence that some significant number of rural hospital laboratories are experiencing ongoing erosion of their financial stability. First, you will read about the closure of …

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NY Hospital Closed Due to Deficiencies in Lab

Clinical Laboratory Trends / By Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: Lab executives and pathologists have long read about the deteriorating finances at many rural hospitals, along with their struggles to recruit and retain enough skilled laboratory staff. Now the closure of the laboratory at 37-bed E.J. Noble Hospital in Gouverneur, New York, can be considered a sign that these long-discussed trends are becoming …

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Lab Director Blows Whistle, NY Closes Hospital Lab

Laboratory Compliance / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Unable to overcome problems at a rural hospital laboratory caused by the parent hospital’s financial problems and the inability of the hospital to recruit adequate numbers of lab staff, the laboratory director terminated his agreement with the hospital and notified the New York State Department of Health about the situation. Alerted by this …

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NY Lab Director Resigns, Cites Lack of Support

Laboratory Compliance / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: When the lab director resigned from his post at a clinical lab in a hospital in rural New York, the resignation letter was sent to the hospital administration and copy went to the New York State Department of Health. In the letter, the lab director outlined eight reasons for tendering his resignation. A …

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Process Improvement Coming to Healthcare

Lean Six Sigma / By Robert Michel

CEO SUMMARY: One new byword coming to healthcare in the United States is the “continuously-learning healthcare system.” At the upcoming Lab Quality Confab in San Antonio next month, lab managers and pathologists can learn more about how to achieve and sustain continuous improvement in their laboratory organization. Pathologists and lab managers who have been active …

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Unprecedented Growth Rates for Molecular Testing

Molecular Diagnostics / By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: There will be an expanding role for innovative clinical labs as healthcare moves forward on its path toward personalized medicine. However, to capitalize on this opportunity, pathology groups and clinical labs will need to beef up their information systems. They will also need to recruit lab staff who are skilled in interpreting molecular …

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