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

January 2013

Delivering Added Value = More Lab Reimbursement

WILL HISTORY LOOK BACK ON 2013 AND DECLARE IT to have been a watershed year for the clinical laboratory testing industry? I ask that question because many of you are telling us here at THE DARK REPORT that you expect rapid and unprecedented changes in the lab testing marketplace in your community or region. In …

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Boosting the Lab’s Role in Collaborative Care

CEO SUMMARY: Collaborative care is an essential element of accountable care organizations (ACO) and other emerging models of integrated clinical care. At MedCentral Health System, one clinical chemist has held a key place on the physician team that develops order sets and clinical alerts. He is using this opportunity to leverage the clinical laboratory into …

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Lab Lowers CHF Readmits, Cuts LOS for AMI Patients

CEO SUMMARY: Labs today are finding ways to send actionable information to referring physicians. The laboratory at MedCentral Health System in Ohio uses electronic alerts to inform clinicians about test results that may be significant. One alert helped the lab cut length of stay for patients by 1.5 days and saved $300,000. Another test identifies …

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Four Labs and Billing Company Pay $140,000 Fine in HIPAA Case

WHEN A BILLING SERVICE company disposes of patients’ lab test records, it should do so in compliance with federal and state privacy rules. That means all protected health information (PHI) should be shredded or incinerated. Four pathology groups in Massachusetts learned this lesson the hard way when they and their billing company agreed to pay …

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Pathology Labs Want Method To Correct Specimen ID Errors

CEO SUMMARY: When pathology labs discover instances of a misidentified or contaminated tissue specimen, there is a new service that allows them to retrospectively use DNA to properly match that specimen to the correct patient. In part two of our series, we look at how some pathology labs are using the Know Error service to …

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Anticipating 2013 Trends in Clinical Lab and Pathology

CEO SUMMARY: Biggest news for 2013 will the impact of significant price cuts for both clinical lab and anatomic pathology testing services. But the bad news doesn’t stop there. Employers and private payers will be more aggressive in taking steps to reduce what they spend on lab testing. This means every clinical lab and pathology …

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Quest Sells OralDNA, HemoCue To Clear Its Decks for 2013

THIS WEEK, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will issue its fourth quarter and full year 2012 financial report. In anticipation of this, the nation’s largest lab company has been cleaning out its closets, so to speak. With its new CEO finishing out his first eight months of service, Quest Diagnostics is taking the opportunity to dispose of …

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January 22, 2013 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Not-for-profit Boston Children’s Hospital will have majority interest in a new lab testing company. Claritas Genomics will be based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and will develop genetic and molecular diagnostic testing solutions. Life Technologies Corporation is a partner in the new company. Boston Children’s Hospital is incorporating into Claritas the “expertise, assets and personnel of the …

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