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.
Eight Macro Trends for Clinical Labs in 2023
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory administrators and pathologists will want to carefully study eight important trends that will guide their business strategies in 2023. Many of these macro trends center on financial and operational difficulties and ways to steer around these obstacles. Anothe…
How Consumers Shape Modern Laboratory Outreach
CEO SUMMARY: Each of the different generations engaging with clinical laboratory outreach programs brings their own set of expectations to a blood draw. Innovative hospital lab outreach programs should serve these differences by offering multiple options to provide appointment conve…
2022’s Top 10 Lab Stories Confirm Challenging Times
CEO SUMMARY: There are valuable insights to be gleaned from The Dark Report’s “Top 10 Lab Industry Stories for 2022.” Several of this year’s story picks involve external forces reshaping healthcare in the United States in profound ways. Other story picks for 2022 illustrate …
Analytics Lets Labs Offset Staffing Woes
CEO SUMMARY: For hospital laboratories confronting worker shortages, data analytics can be useful for improving workflows and determining effective staffing levels. This information can also induce changes that may improve employee morale. Two experts discuss three analytics reports…
Use This Five-Step Process to Implement a New LIS
CEO SUMMARY: Rolling out a new laboratory information system (LIS) is a costly, time-consuming project. One expert outlines five steps that clinical labs can take to alleviate pressures while ensuring the right people are onboard to help the endeavor move forward. Among the steps is…
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…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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