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

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark

Supply and Demand for Lab Services and Pathologists

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / Robert Michel

IT SEEMS THE LABORATORY INDUSTRY HAS MANAGED to beat back the proposed 20% patient co-payment for Medicare Part B laboratory testing services. Kudos to the hard-working laboratorians and their lobbyists who devoted money and time to oppose this proposal. But the news remains glum. Word is that lawmakers are considering a ten-year freeze on cost-of-living […]

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Chipping Away at Laboratory Reimbursement

Commentary and Opinion by R. Lewis Dark / Robert Michel

PROPOSED NEW MEDICARE RULES by the Office of the Investigator General (OIG) dealing with “discriminatory billing practices” and “usual charges” should be seen as part of a larger trend. The government doesn’t have the money to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. Thus, it is exploring indirect ways to reduce the amount of money it pays

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These Leaders in Lab Management Took Risks

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

BY NOW THE NEWS IS GETTING OUT. Hospital laboratory administrators and pathologists are learning there now exists a management approach that cuts the average turnaround time from order to verified result by as much as 50% in as few as 12 weeks! If that’s not enough, this management approach will simultaneously reduce trained technical labor

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Changing the Way Laboratories Do Business

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

I HOPE BOTH PATHOLOGISTS AND LABORATORY ADMINISTRATORS pay close attention to our coverage of early-adopter hospital laboratories and how they are using “Lean” quality management methods to boost performance of their laboratories. These labs are harvesting productivity gains in the range of 30% to 50%, following a training and implementation schedule requiring as little as

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Major Events Hit Pathology Profession

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

ACROSS THE AMERICAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM, numerous trends tug at pathologists and the laboratory medicine services they provide. Both clinical pathologists and anatomic pathologists find themselves confronted with a growing number of demands for change. Increasingly these demands can no longer be ignored or deferred, but require a response. This issue of THE DARK REPORT provides

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Many Laboratorians Seem to Be “From Missouri”

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

OUR STORY ABOUT THE NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART AUTOMATED LABORATORY at Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KP-NW) in Portland, Oregon is one which should not be overlooked or underestimated in its importance. It is the story about how an ISO-9000-certified clinical lab organization used ISO principles to design, from the ground up, its new laboratory. Around the offices of

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Failure to Provide “Right Care” Documented by Study

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

EVEN AS THE HOUSE–SENATE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE determines the fate of the 20% co-payment for laboratory tests, our lead story in this issue of THE DARK REPORT looks at the impact of a remarkable study on the quality of healthcare delivered to the average American patient just published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

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Transition Issues Breed Turmoil in Many AP Groups

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

PATHOLOGY GROUP PRACTICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY have yet to solve a major problem: in private practice settings, what is the right mix of compensation and equity for individual pathologists? The question strikes to the nub of retirement expectations. During their professional careers, can pathologists build the value of their group practice so that, at retirement

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Threat of Medicare 20% Co-pay for Lab Looms Again

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

BY NOW MOST OF YOU KNOW THAT THE LATEST ATTEMPT TO REINSTITUTE the 20% patient co-payment for Medicare Part B laboratory testing services was waved off in the Senate last week. But don’t relax, because similar proposals are expected to be put forward in Congress in coming months. It was a close call for the laboratory

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Laboratory Medicine Goes Global

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

IN MY OPINION, THE ABILITY OF TWO ST. LOUIS HOSPITALS TO PROVIDE a sophisticated menu of reference testing for a developing nation located more than 12,000 miles away is remarkable. (See this article.) It provides compelling evidence that laboratory medicine is undergoing its own globalization process. Couple the accomplishment of Washington University Medical School and Barnes-Jewish

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