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.
Boosting the Lab’s Role in Collaborative Care
CEO SUMMARY: Collaborative care is an essential element of accountable care organizations (ACO) and other emerging models of integrated clinical care. At MedCentral Health System, one clinical chemist has held a key place on the physician team that develops order sets and clinical alerts….
OURLab Founder Lays Out New Business Strategy
CEO SUMMARY: For OURLabs of Nashville, Tennessee, it was the host of changes in the lab testing marketplace that motivated it to go looking for a partner. Its recently-announced merger with OPKO Health, Inc., of Miami, Florida, creates opportunities for OURLab pathologists to do more in t…
Competitive Bidding: Once Again, It’s Back!
CEO SUMMARY: For the clinical lab industry, the concept of competitive bidding for Medicare Part B Clinical Lab Testing may be like the movie “Groundhog Day.” The hero, Bill Murray, kept reliving the same day over and over. So it seems to be with competitive bidding. In the latest rep…
Narrower Provider Networks Topic during Quest Conference Call
SINCE MAY 1, 2012, the nation’s largest clinical laboratory company has had a new CEO, who is Stephen H. Rusckowski. The company’s second quarter conference call provided an opportunity to learn more about how he views Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Conducted on July 19, the fi…
New Lab Company Intends to Buy Outreach Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Based in Brentwood, Tennessee, Regional Diagnostic Laboratories (RDX) says it wants to purchase the laboratory outreach programs of nonprofit community hospitals. RDX is a partnership with Warburg Pincus, a New York investment company. It is a credible buyer and has $250 mill…
aLabs Now Manages Labs for Major Health Systems
CEO SUMMARY: Established with a unique business plan unseen to date in the lab testing industry, aLabs has already entered into laboratory management services contracts with major health systems in Milwaukee and San Diego. This is an impressive start for a newly-formed company that has no…
Well-Funded Buyers Put Hospital Labs in Bull’s-Eye
CEO SUMMARY: In less than 12 months, two big private equity firms have each launched a lab company with the goal of acquiring and/or managing the clinical labs of hospitals and health systems. In the case of aLabs, it has signed one laboratory management services contract with Aurora and …
Health Insurers Now Finding Ways to Cut Costs and Shed Risks
CEO SUMMARY: Both employers and health insurers are taking aggressive steps to rein in healthcare costs. Several strategies to control spending and create powerful new incentives for providers are gaining favor. At this year’s Executive War College, Paul Mango of McKinsey & Company,…
Lab Restructuring Moves Ahead in United Kingdom and Ireland
IT IS TOUGH TIMES FINANCIALLY for pathology and clinical laboratories in the British Isles. In both the nations of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the budget woes of the respective national governments are driving major changes in the organization and delivery of laboratory testing services. In the …
Cleveland Clinic Lab Aims to Grow Reference Testing
CEO SUMMARY: In the national market for reference and esoteric testing, Cleveland Clinic Laboratories (CCL) is preparing to expand its presence. It has just moved into a $75 million state-of-the-art laboratory facility and wants to increase its outreach reference testing by four-fold with…
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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