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IN A PIONEERING COLLABORATION, the pathology department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, will work with GenomeQuest, Inc., to perform whole genome sequencing of tumor specimens. GenomeQuest will handle sequencing, assembly, and annotation of the genetic data. BIDMC will analyze these whole human genome sequences to develop companion diagnostic tests and to find new ways to advance personalized medicine. Also, pathologists at Washington University in St. Louis demonstrate the growing role of digital pathology.

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AS DOCTORS AND THE FDA line up on opposite sides of the question of pre-authorization and regulation of lab-developed tests, THE DARK REPORT notes that pre-authorization of expensive genetic and molecular tests is a threat to local clinical laboratories and pathology groups if payers exclude them from provider networks in favor of labs which bid the lowest prices. One major healthcare corporation believes there is an opportunity for clinical labs and pathology groups to deliver added value to payers—and be paid appropriately for that value.

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WHILE PRE-AUTHORIZATION OF costly genetic and molecular tests is fast becoming a priority for most of the nation’s health insurers, threatening local labs’ revenues, it’s also an opportunity to add a new revenue stream because payers need all the skills and knowledge that labs possess to intelligently manage utilization of molecular testing. Also, as two major health systems decide to ally with a partner, more hospital administrators are beginning to recognize how and why laboratory outreach testing programs can bring substantial clinical and financial benefits to their organization.

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POINT-OF-CARE TESTING (POCT) continues to gain acceptance in hospitals across the nation. One factor in this trend is improved technology for both the POC assays and the POC systems, each of which contributes to a more accurate and reproducible POC test result. But an equally important factor is tight management of a hospital’s POC testing program by its clinical laboratory team. Also, this issue reports on thousands of patient records from four hospitals sent by a pathology billing company to a public dump in Massachusetts.

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