Clinical Laboratory
A clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.
Clinical laboratories are at the forefront of the personalized medicine trend. However, they are also targets for cost-cutting measures by payers, and increased regulation by CMS and FDA, making the industry a challenging one in which to succeed.
Laboratory medicine is generally divided into two sections, each of which being subdivided into multiple units. These two sections are:
- Anatomic pathology: Units included here are histopathology, cytopathology, and electron microscopy. Other disciplines pertaining to this section include anatomy, physiology, histology, pathology, and pathophysiology.
- Clinical pathology, which includes:
- Clinical Microbiology: This encompasses five different sciences. These include bacteriology, virology, parasitology, immunology, and mycology.
- Clinical Chemistry: Units under this section include instrumental analysis of blood components, enzymology, toxicology and endocrinology.
- Hematology: This section consists of automated and manual analysis of blood cells.
- Genetics is also studied along with a subspecialty known as cytogenetics.
- Reproductive biology: Semen analysis, Sperm bank and assisted reproductive technology.
Credibility of medical laboratories is paramount to the health and safety of the patients relying on the testing services provided by these labs. The international standard in use today for the accreditation of medical laboratories is ISO 15189. Under their respective approaches to laboratory licensure and accreditation, many countries have legal requirements that medical laboratories must be accredited to ISO 15189. This is not true in the United States.
In the United States, there are federal and state laws that address the licensure and accreditation of medical laboratories. Accreditation is done by the Joint Commission, College of American Pathologists, AAB (American Association of Bioanalysts), and other state and federal agencies. CLIA 88, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, also dictate testing and personnel.
In addition, many clinical laboratories have adopted quality management programs such as Six Sigma and Lean quality to improve clinical quality, reduce turnaround time, cut costs, and boost productivity. Lean and Six Sigma are both process improvement methodologies. At a very basic level, Lean is about speed and efficiency, while Six Sigma is about precision and accuracy, leading to data-driven decisions. Lean and Six Sigma methods are finding numerous applications in anatomic pathology laboratories and pathology group practices.
Texas Company Operates 400 COVID-Collection Sites
CEO SUMMARY: In April, the federal Department of Health and Human Services contracted with eTrueNorth to operate COVID drive-through specimen-collection sites under the Community-Based Testing Sites program. The drive-through sites are an extension of non-COVID testing the company has …
Wisconsin Lab Network Feeds Valuable Data to State Health Lab
CEO SUMMARY: From the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 138-member Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network has reported to the state health lab the number of COVID-19 tests, the number of positive results, as well as other data that includes data on lab testing supplies and ca…
COVID-19 Pooled Testing: Good for Labs? Not IVDs?
CEO SUMMARY: Pooled testing for COVID-19 could be a double-edged sword for clinical labs and in vitro diagnostics companies. Offering the advantage of reducing the number of standard tests for SARS-CoV-2, this testing method would cut lab spending on tests and testing supplie…
Officials Differ on Value of COVID-19 Pooled Testing
CEO SUMMARY: Some experts on testing strategies support pooled testing because this method may support reopening by schools and businesses and thus bring the economy back. But other experts have raised questions about this strategy. Rules from the federal Centers for Medicare …
Government Officials Intensify Broad Chaos In Clinical Lab Supply Chain
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical labs throughout the United States are ready to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, there is widespread recognition that many barriers to increasing labs’ COVID-19 testing capacity are caused by the inappropriate actions of government…
COVID-19 Serology Test Review: FDA Says 8 of 11 Tests Fail
CEO SUMMARY: After introducing some 200 serological assays onto the market in March and April with little or no review, as of this writing the FDA website lists only 77 serology tests. Of that number, 11 assays have been evaluated independently and eight of those 11 have been pulled from…
Questions Arise as FDA Assesses Serology Tests
CEO SUMMARY: On June 4, the FDA released results of an evaluation of some of the 20 tests offered for sale in this country to identify antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. A quality control expert in clinical labs called the antibody test analysis deeply flawed in part because of the study’s …
COVID-19 Serology Test Claims 98.8% Accuracy
CEO SUMMARY: When it announced its new antibody test for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 on May 3, Roche Holdings explained that its sensitivity level after 14 days was 100%, which is an important point to understand about the test. When assessing Roche’s claims, two expert…
Coronavirus Tests Boost Immunology Lab’s Volume
CEO SUMMARY: Physicians treating patients with compromised immune systems who contract the new coronavirus need immunology tests to guide risk-assessment decisions for these patients. At a Virginia lab that specializes in such testing, specimen volume has tripled since the SAR…
In Michigan, Short Supplies Constrain COVID Test Capacity
CEO SUMMARY: Because of a severe shortage of supplies, members of Michigan’s two hospital laboratory networks have been stymied in their ability to respond to the pandemic and operate their SARS-CoV-2 analyzers at full capacity. The lack of primers, reagents, specimen-collec…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 13 – September 15, 2025
The Dark Report examines a new bill that would reform PAMA and avoid reimbursement rate cuts scheduled for January 2026. Clinical laboratory leaders are urged to make their voices heard in Congress. Also, an expert describes how labs can fix pre-analytical errors and avoid disaster.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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