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

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark

Raising the Bar with Better Phlebotomy Service

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

STEP BY STEP, INNOVATIVE CLINICAL LABORATORIES AND PATHOLOGY GROUPS across the country are deliberately raising the level of service they provide to patients and physicians. In the short term, this often delivers competitive advantage—at least until competing laboratories improve their own service to equal that new benchmark. Raising the bar on service is the theme […]

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Protecting Your Lab From New Legal Threats

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

ASSUME, FOR THE MOMENT, THAT YOUR CLINICAL LABORATORY OR PATHOLOGY GROUP was concerned about its potential exposure to evolving legal and compliance issues. How would you guarantee that your laboratory has: 1) correctly identified new and/or emerging threats; and, 2) implemented effective protections to reduce your lab’s risk? Typically, your lab’s compliance officer would contact

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Re-shaping the Profession of Anatomic Pathology

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

WHEN JANUARY 1, 2011, ARRIVED, IT MARKED AN IMPORTANT MILESTONE for the anatomic pathology profession. That is the day that the oldest pathologists in the Baby Boomer generation turned 65 years old and became eligible for Social Security and Medicare. This is an event we have discussed our entire adult lives. The question is asked

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A Tale of Two Laboratories

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

ON OPPOSITE COASTS OF THE UNITED STATES, two of the nation’s larger laboratory companies are charting very different courses. Yet, in this tale of two laboratories, each lab company has important lessons to teach hospital CEOs about the many benefits that accrue from a well-run hospital laboratory outreach program. On the East Coast, Solstas Laboratory

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Low Lab Test Prices and Uninsured Patients

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

LOW PRICES FOR CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTS ARE CAUSING PROBLEMS for labs in California and Ohio. In this issue of THE DARK REPORT, you will learn about both situations. The California situation has gotten lots of play, but the Ohio situation is breaking news. In California, both the California Attorney General and the Department of Health

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More IVD Consolidation as Danaher Buys Beckman

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

TODAY IT WAS ANNOUNCED that Danaher Corporation would acquire Beckman Coulter, Inc., in a transaction valued at $5.8 billion. The news was not a surprise, since word had leaked out last December that Beckman’s board of director had engaged Goldman Sachs to advise it about a potential sale. For lab administrators and pathologists, the significance

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More Reimbursement Threats for Lab Testing

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

WE ARE NOW WELL INTO THE FIRST MONTH OF 2011 and already there are plenty of signs that reimbursement for both clinical laboratory testing and anatomic pathology testing will come under siege from a variety of sources this year. Take, for example, the rather rapid action by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

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Any Future for Loss-Leader Lab Pricing?

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

OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA, few pathologists or laboratory administrators are aware of the unfolding enforcement campaign that was initiated by the state’s Medi-Cal program. At issue is a decades-long practice of offering providers low laboratory test prices—in some cases well below the Medi-Cal fee schedule. You may say, “what’s the big deal?”, since, for years, you’ve seen

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Reading the Tea Leaves from 2010’s Events

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

EACH YEAR WHEN WE PRESENT OUR “Top Ten Lab Stories” for the year, I am always surprised at which forces for change emerged during the prior 12 months. In presenting THE DARK REPORT’S “Top Ten Lab Stories for 2010,” our editor has pointed out that four of these ten stories involved the federal government in

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Tapping Molecular Pathology’s New Gold Mine

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

IN ONE SENSE, WE CAN SAY THAT THE DECADE OF 2001 THROUGH 2010 was bookended by two one-half billion dollar anatomic pathology acquisitions. Each transaction was a powerful signal to Wall Street investors. Unfortunately, most pathologists are not tuned into that signal and so continue to miss the message. It was back in 2002 when

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