Laboratory Management
Laboratory management in today’s clinical lab industry is changing rapidly and facing entirely new challenges. One problem is the lack of upcoming younger lab managers, as the retirements of baby boomer pathologists, medical technologists and lab scientists are in the near future. These individuals make up the largest proportion of supervisors, managers, and lab administrators working in labs today.
As they retire, every clinical lab and pathology group needs to have the next generation of leaders ready to step up and assume responsibilities. But, across the lab industry, there are limited opportunities for every lab’s brightest up-and-comers to get the regular management development opportunities that are common among Fortune 500 companies. The Dark Intelligence Group has called for the establishment of a mentoring program to help overcome this problem.
At the same time, downward pressure on reimbursements and mounting competition have created an environment that requires much more effort for a medical lab to grow and thrive.
Legislation, including the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 2009 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010, have placed significant demands on medical laboratories and healthcare providers to improve internal efficiency even while offering more services for less money. This pressure to “do more with less” is further compounded by the need to deliver increasingly personalized client service to retain and win clients.
With the era of fee-for-service medicine coming to a close, every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology organization needs a strategy for getting paid, as new reimbursement models that support patient-centric care will make up a larger portion of lab revenues.
The challenge for every clinical laboratory manager is to understand how to evolve from a business model that is accession-centric or volume-centric to one that is patient-centric.
Many clinical laboratories today are developing data repositories to logically link all transactional and other information about a patient. These repositories allow physicians to see all relevant information, identify trends, and provide better care as a result, enabling labs to provide greater value to their customers, patients and payers, thus creating more value and becoming more patient-centric.
Florida Hospital Laboratory Team Prepared before Hurricane Ian
With Hurricane Ian approaching the west coast of Florida on Sept. 28, hospital laboratories in the predicted path scrambled to be ready for the worst. That was true at Tampa General Hospital, where the hospital’s clinical lab team went on high alert. …
U.S. Hospitals Will Lose Billions of Dollars in 2022
CEO SUMMARY: Hospitals and health systems in most regions of the United States are reporting substantial losses, both in patient care and in the value of their investment portfolios. This is inauspicious for the clinical laboratories operated by these hospitals. Hospital-bas…
Insights and Advice about the Lab Staffing Crisis
CEO SUMMARY: For the past decade, it’s been recognized that the supply of skilled laboratory professionals is inadequate to meet the needs of the nation’s clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. Leadership at American Medical Technologists recommends steps that labs…
Texas Lab Details Dual Accreditation Journey
CEO SUMMARY: In seeking dual accreditation for CLIA and ISO 15189, Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory of San Antonio adapted existing processes to meet accreditor expectations. The result was stronger staff empowerment to suggest improvements in quality, combined with increased recognit…
Lean Is Smart Approach to Major Lab Cost Savings
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a time when clinical labs are under extreme pressure to cut costs, even as they deal with understaffing. One proven approach to reducing expenses while preserving quality is to apply Lean methods in conjunction with Six Sigma tools. It is often true that successf…
Solutions to Lab Staffing, Supply, Revenue Problems
CEO SUMMARY: Responding to requests from numerous lab managers, The Dark Report is organizing a one-and-a-half-day program that will come to your city. Workshop leaders are from labs su…
Tactics to Standardize Point-of-Care Testing
CEO SUMMARY: Managing point-of-care testing (POCT) at a multi-hospital health system like Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM) often means overseeing thousands of nurses and staff members who perform such tests. Lessons learned at JHM in standardizing POCT, training staff, and maintaining q…
Hospital Lab Outreach Taps On-Demand Testing
CEO SUMMARY: In this case study, clinical laboratory managers from Bryan Health in Nebraska explain how they expanded their lab outreach program to include direct-to-consumer tests. The project involved researching what tests were most appropriate without the need for a physician’…
Might VALID Act Support Be Waning in Congress?
CEO SUMMARY: Just weeks ago, events seemed to indicate that the Verifying Accurate Lea…
Lab’s Anemia Program Brings in New Revenue
CEO SUMMARY: In Philadelphia, Jefferso…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 9 – June 23, 2025
In part one of an analysis about the state of AI in clinical laboratories, The Dark Report explores how frontline workers, especially younger ones, are using AI tools like ChatGPT far more than lab leaders. Recent reports elsewhere in the business world show executives underestimate staff AI use, raising concerns about a leadership gap in tech adoption. Clinical lab leaders must get more familiar with AI use cases. Also, in this issue of The Dark Report, there is discussion on how Medicaid cuts may affect clinical labs, an examination of the lab industry fallout from CLIAC termination, an analysis of AMP’s reports that provide crucial insights for Hiring Managers, and notes that regional health systems are new dominant players in M&A.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.