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

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark

Patient Satisfaction Has New Significance for Labs

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / Robert Michel

ONCE AGAIN, THE DARK REPORT IS FIRST TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION to a national trend not previously recognized. Specifically, I refer to how the focus by hospitals on patient safety and patient satisfaction has surfaced the dissatisfaction most patients have with phlebotomy and, by extension, with the representatives of hospital labs who draw blood. Surveys […]

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A Pricing Strategy Soon to Boomerang?

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

HAVE NATIONAL LAB COMPANIES CREATED A REIMBURSEMENT BOOMERANG that will erode financial stability for the entire laboratory industry in the United States? I ask that question because the Medicare Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project for Laboratory Services has selected San Diego to be its first site. It was ready to conduct a bidder’s conference until last

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Lean, Six Sigma and Laboratory Errors

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

IT IS TOUGH TO IGNORE THE STEADY DRUMBEAT about patient safety. In every sector of healthcare, accrediting bodies, state legislatures, private insurers, and federal health administrators are instituting programs designed to focus providers on eliminating the sources of medical errors and reducing the variability in care provided to patients. As you will read on pages

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Heeding the Lessons of Market Competition

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

COMPETITION FOR LAB TESTING DOLLARS IS THROWING NEW CURVEBALLS at both clinical labs and pathology group packages. Failure to spot these developments and respond to them now will have swift financial consequences. In this issue of THE DARK REPORT, readers will notice how we’ve identified market threats to the status quo of laboratories across the

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EMR Links as Labs’ Next Competitive Advantage

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

WE ARE CAREFULLY TRACKING THE ACCEPTANCE AND USE of electronic medical record (EMR) systems by office-based physicians. It is an important trend, one that is both an opportunity and a threat for regional laboratories. As you will read on pages 3-6, once physicians install and begin to use EMR in their daily practice, literally the

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Competing Against Regional Laboratories

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

SINCE THE 1980S, THERE HAS BEEN COMPETITIVE TENSION between publicly traded laboratory companies and their regional counterparts—both independent labs and hospital laboratory outreach programs. It’s an understatement to say that both sectors of the laboratory community often wish the other was not around. During the past 20 years, each class of laboratories has bedeviled the

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Intense Competition for Market Share in New York

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

ONE OF THE MOST TURBULENT MARKETS FOR LAB SERVICES TODAY is New York City and the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. This is ground zero in the fight for market share between Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laboratory Corporation of America and competition is intense. The stakes are highest for Quest Diagnostics.

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Recognizing Laboratory Leadership

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

WHEN LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA CLOSES ON THE SALE and becomes the owner of DSI Laboratories, Inc., of Fort Meyers, Florida, it will mark the end of one of the nation’s oldest hospital laboratory outreach programs. I consider this to be a good news/bad news story. The good news is that DSI’s owner, NCH Healthcare

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Procter & Gamble Moves into the Neighborhood

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

LAST MONTH, A NEW RESIDENT BOUGHT INTO THE LABORATORY TESTING NEIGHBORHOOD. Procter & Gamble Company spent a third of a billion dollars to enter a joint venture with Inverness Medical Products, Inc., with the specific goal of selling diagnostic test kits to consumers in pharmacies, grocery stores, and other retail outlets. As you will read

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Mass General Hospital Raises Bar on Transparency

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

WHENEVER I VISIT the corporate offices of THE DARK REPORT in Austin, Texas, I am invariably treated to a Texas barbeque dinner and one of the delicacies on the platter is sausage that has been smoked and slathered in sauce. Like many of you, I enjoy sausage, but I don’t ever want to watch how

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