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

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark

Is There A Power Shift in Pathology?

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

SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, the dominant practice model for the pathology profession has been the private group practice. Outside of academia and a few other settings, the vast majority of pathologists practiced laboratory medicine as physician-partners in a medical group. During this same period, the pathology profession’s major defender was the College […]

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Bringing You the REAL Story behind the Story!

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

HOW MUCH DO YOU TRUST THE NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER MEDIA you read to give you the right story, with the right analysis? If you are like me, you are regularly disappointed that the nation’s journalists are too quick to report the obvious—while often missing the important nuances that bring out the true dimensions of the

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New Jersey Suspends UnitedHealth’s Fines for Docs

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

THERE’S AN INTERESTING TWIST IN THE ONGOING KERFUFFLE between Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laboratory Corporation of America over the UnitedHealth Group business. Last Friday, news spilled out that the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance had asked the insurer to suspend its plans to fine doctors who continue to refer UnitedHealth patients to Quest

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New Technologies Bring New Issues for Pathologists

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

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS ARE MOVING through the lab industry like a buzz saw through balsa. Three briefings in this issue provide examples. In two briefings, we address the topic of false positive results generated in part because of innovations in molecular testing. In the third briefing, we explain how more sophisticated automation and complex new diagnostic

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Of Radiology, Pathology, GE, Siemens, and Philips

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

WHY THE SUDDEN INTEREST IN IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS (IVD) by companies serving radiology? Over the past 12 months, what motivated General Electric to spend $8.13 billion and Siemens AG to spend $7.1 billion to acquire their own large IVD manufacturers? I suspect the answer is: information. In healthcare, radiology and laboratory medicine have two things

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A New Look and New Services for THE DARK REPORT

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

YOU’VE PROBABLY ALREADY NOTICED that this issue of THE DARK REPORT sports a new look! We took advantage of the New Year to deliver a fresh, new appearance to THE DARK REPORT while preserving all that’s unique and most valued by our long-time clients and regular readers. Refinements to our established format are designed to

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Healthcare Accelerates Its Pace of Change

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

DURING THE NEXT FEW YEARS, clinical laboratories and pathology group practices can expect to see the pace of change in healthcare and laboratory medicine accelerate. As that occurs, lab directors and pathologists will need to be faster at responding to evolving threats and opportunities. Our selection of the “Top Ten Lab Industry Stories for 2006”

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Proving that Pathology’s Popular Wisdom Is Wrong

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

IN THE ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY PROFESSION, THE POPULAR WISDOM is that any pathology group practice needs one or more hospital contracts as the primary source of specimens necessary to financially sustain the practice. Outreach specimens sourced from physicians’ offices then represent a profitable supplement to the hospital business served by the pathology group. Three years ago,

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Pathology Lets the Oncology Cat Out of the Bag

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

BECAUSE OF GENETIC TECHNOLOGY, the profession of anatomic pathology may be poised for a golden age. The range of new technologies and diagnostic assays heading for clinical use have the potential to give pathologists the ability to detect disease with greater precision. They will also allow pathologists to guide clinicians to the most effective therapies.

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Blood Brothers Prepare to Go to the Mat

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

LIKE MANY OF YOU, I WAS STARTLED BY THE NEWS that UnitedHealth Group, Inc. was willing to cut Quest Diagnostics Incorporated out of the health insurer’s national contract for laboratory testing services. After all, there are many reasons, like economies of scale, why these two companies should be mutually interested in perpetuating their business relationship.

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