From the Volume XXV No. 14 – October 1, 2018 issue
Every pathologist and clinical lab administrator should pay attention to two federal court decisions made recently in two different legal cases. One decision is bad news for the entire clinical lab industry. The other is bad news for lab companies that push compliance with federal anti-kickback laws.
The most important court decision came in the American
From the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue
STEP BY STEP, HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED STATES is moving toward a system in which clinical care is fully integrated and providers are reimbursed for the value they provide. This trend presents clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups with a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge comes because being a value-added contributor requires labs to adopt
From the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, leaders and forward-thinkers in the pathology profession bemoaned the fact that lab tests and anatomic pathology services were priced as commodities. From the podiums of various lab and healthcare conferences, they urged their peers to identify, document, and educate health insurers and others about the true value of lab tests.
All
From the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
RECENTLY TWO OF THE NATION’S LARGEST HEALTH INSURERS abandoned a managed care contracting strategy that they adopted 11 years ago. Back in 2007, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna each were willing to grant exclusive national provider status to a single lab company in exchange for deeply-discounted lab best prices. (See TDRs, Oct. 16, 2006, Feb. 19, 2007, and
From the Volume XXV No. 10 – July 9, 2018 issue
IT’S TIME FOR ALL CLINICAL LABS AND ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY GROUPS to pay closer attention to the advances in genetic medicine and precision medicine. Events are moving even faster than most experts have predicted.
As you will read on pages 3-4, two innovative health networks are on the verge of offering sophisticated genetic tests to patients visiting
From the Volume XXV No. 9 – June 18, 2018 issue
IT’S NOW CLEAR THAT TWO CLINICAL LABORATORY EXECUTIVES COMMITED one of the largest corporate fraud schemes in the past century.
Reading the federal indictments against Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani unsealed Friday provides insights into the extensive scale and wide scope of the alleged fraud the two Theranos executives perpetrated against patients, doctors, and investors.
When
From the Volume XXV No. 8 – May 29, 2018 issue
IT IS AN IMPORTANT SIGN OF THE TIMES when press releases about the two new national lab services agreements that UnitedHealthcare just announced with Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics emphasize how value-based programs will be an important element in the health insurer’s relationships with the two national lab companies.
In fact, the joint announcements
From the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue
WE’VE JUST FINISHED A FASCINATING WEEK IN NEW ORLEANS, at the 23rd annual Executive War College. More than 820 lab leaders were present to hear 104 interesting speakers in 65 unique sessions. Collectively, this group represented as much as $20 billion in annual clinical lab and pathology revenue.
These statistics are important for a strategic planning
From the Volume XXV No. 6 – April 16, 2018 issue
MOST PATHOLOGISTS WOULD AGREE THAT PATIENTS AND THEIR PHYSICIANS have every right to expect a timely, accurate lab test result. Stated differently, patients and physicians implicitly trust that a pathology laboratory in the United States will not make errors in specimen processing (technical component) and diagnosis (professional component).
For these reasons, the recent federal Centers for
From the Volume XXV No. 5 – March 26, 2018 issue
THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO UNDERSTAND HOW THINGS ARE CHANGING within the house of laboratory medicine than to survey current news. Understanding why and how breaking news stories are indicators of deeply-rooted and forceful trends is essential for lab administrators and pathologists who want to keep their labs positioned to offer sophisticated and financially-sustainable
