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.
Theranos Will Dissolve, Seeks to Settle Claims
CEO SUMMARY: It appears that the final chapter in what many call Silicon Valley’s biggest investor fraud will conclude this week. Theranos, Inc., the once high-flying lab testing company, is to be dissolved and its remaining cash and intellectual property will be distributed, according …
Biggest Lab Firms Diverge on Hospital Lab Strategies
CEO SUMMARY: Almost half of the nation’s hospitals and health systems are rethinking how to use their clinical labs to support clinical and financial strategies. Options range from outright sale of their lab outreach businesses to lab management agreements or joint ventures with one of …
Michigan’s Ascension to Standardize Labs Throughout the State
CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to improve patient outcomes continuously. In Michigan, Ascension Health is an example of a lab team wor…
Do Hospitals Want to Sell or Outsource Their Labs?
This is an excerpt from a 883-word article in the August 20, 2018 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article and two related articles are available to all readers, with a three-article cap. CEO SUMMARY: Common wisdom on Wall Street is that many hospi…
ProMedica, Sonic Form Lab Outreach Joint Venture
CEO SUMMARY: Fast-growing ProMedica Health System of Toledo, Ohio, agreed to a laboratory joint venture with Sonic Healthcare USA. As lab budgets and prices for lab tests are squeezed downward, ProMedica sees opportunity to add volume to this new core lab facility to improve efficiency an…
Sonic Sees a Future in Lab JVs with Hospitals
CEO SUMMARY: In every partnership, each member has a unique point of view. Following the announcement of a new laboratory joint venture company involving ProMedica Health System and Sonic Healthcare USA, the Sonic executive who worked with ProMedica’s administrators to develop the JV ex…
Québec’s Laboratory Consolidation Plan Aims to Save $13.5M
CEO SUMMARY: In the Province of Québec, an ambitious project is under-way to consolidate the clinical laboratory testing of 123 laboratories into 11 centralized lab clusters. It is one of the largest lab consolidation projects nowhappening in the world. Among the goals of this project is…
New Aetna, UHC Contracts Create Openings for Labs
CEO SUMMARY: New national lab contracts that LabCorp and Quest announced in May could disrupt the lab testing market in ways regional labs can exploit, experts said. Health plans entered these new contracts after realizing that the exclusive network contracts do not work, one lab consulta…
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Builds Strong Lab Outreach Business
CEO SUMMARY: As health networks and hospitals consider outsourcing their lab outreach programs, the lab team at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (D-H) offers lessons about the value of retaining outreach. D-H is now in the eighth year of a sustained expansion of its laboratory outreach …
Hospital Lab Outreach Still Effective Revenue Strategy
CEO SUMMARY: Despite the challenges hospital and health system laboratory outreach programs face today, there are many ways they can remain viable, according to an outreach expert from Mayo Medical Laboratories. By taking specific steps to increase volume and the value they provide, lab o…
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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