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.
Labcorp to Buy Outreach, Manage Ascension Labs
CEO SUMMARY: In a blockbuster deal valued at almost half a billion dollars, Labcorp will manage dozens of hospital labs in 10 states on behalf of Ascension Health, one of the biggest health systems in the country. Labcorp will also spend $400 million to acquire certain assets of Asc…
CLIA Accreditation Market: More Competitive Now?
CEO SUMMARY: It’s been three decades since compliance with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) became mandatory. During that time, there has been little competition among the major organizations with deeming status by the Medicare Program to accredit labs to CLIA…
How to Achieve Success with Genetic Test Prior Authorization
AS MANAGED CARE PAYERS INCREASINGLY REQUIRE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION FOC GENETIC TESTS, clinical laboratories should understand the ins and outs of what it takes to get reimbursed for testing they provide. Almost all payers now require prior authorization (P…
Pathology Lab Transforms, Runs 1M COVID-19 Tests
CEO SUMMARY: Last spring, a histopathology lab in Illinois began running molecular COVID-19 tests and decided the clinical side of the lab would focus exclusively on PCR testing for COVID-19. The challenge was how to access a reliable source of test kits, reagents, and supplies to o…
New Clinical Lab Opens on March 23 and Prospers
CEO SUMMARY: Timing is everything when launching a new clinical laboratory business. The March 23 grand opening of Incyte Pathology’s clinical lab came in the midst of the collapse of daily routine specimen referrals. But once the lab was operational, Incyte had the capability, the …
Franciscan Missionaries Sells Lab Outreach Business to LabCorp
SINCE THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC IN LATE FEBRUARY, the nation’s two largest clinical lab companies have announced only two acquisitions of hospital laboratory outreach programs, one in June and one this month. Last week, LabCorp announced its acquisition of the clinical ambu…
To Stay Afloat, Dallas AP Group Cut Staff, Payroll
CEO SUMMARY: As early cases of COVID-19 spread in some states, pathologists at the 50-member ProPath group in Dallas prepared for a widespread outbreak by preserving cash and working with bankers and other advisors to apply for federal stimulus funding. Executives also fur…
At the Epicenter, Northwell’s COVID-19 Lab Data Adds Value
CEO SUMMARY: This intelligence briefing provides a valuable look inside a clinical laboratory that is at ground zero in a city and state that is experiencing the nation’s most intense and fastest-moving incidence of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Lab leadership granted Th…
NeoGenomics Spends $37M for Human Longevity’s Oncology Division
Once again, Neogenomics, Inc. is using an acquisition to build up its cancer-testing business. In a deal that closed on Jan. 10, the lab company acquired the Oncology Division of Human Longevity, based in San Diego. Neogenomics said it paid $37 million f…
Veritas Genetics to Close Its Testing Operations in U.S.
MAYBE CHARGING CONSUMERS THE LOW PRICE of $599 for a whole human genome sequence is not a winning financial strategy. That’s one possible reason why closely-watched Veritas Genetics of Cambridge, Mass., will stop operations in the United States. It was in July that Veritas annou…
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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