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Customer-Focused Labs Are Successful
AS YOU READ THIS ISSUE, YOU WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST in the laboratory industry to learn that more than 50% of the nation’s hospitals are financially deficient and “technically insolvent or at risk of insolvency.” That’s according to Alvarez & Marsal of Ne…
New Report Says Half Nation’s Hospitals Have Financial Woes
CEO Summary: In a groundbreaking study just released, consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal determined that as many as half of the nation’s hospitals are failing to generate enough patient revenue to sustain expenses! With a median occupancy rate of 43%, these hospitals are likely to exp…
Implementing Best Practices Across 27 Hospital Labs
CEO SUMMARY: It is always challenging to ensure consistency and high productivity across the different labs in a consolidated lab organization. To help staff focus on quality and efficiency, Alverno Clinical Laboratories LLC uses Lean methods to improve quality and timely delivery of lab …
Univ. of Tokyo Hospital Lab Has Plenty of Automation
CEO SUMMARY: In Japan, many clinical laboratories are in their third decade of using automation. At the University of Tokyo Hospital, total laboratory automation (TLA) was first implemented in 1991. Now on its fourth generation TLA system, this laboratory was worked upstream to automate s…
Healthcare Has First Standards for Use of Bar Codes and RFID
THREE ORGANIZATIONS have jointly developed information technology standards to be used in identifying patients, drugs, and medical devices. These standards use bar code, radio frequency identification (RFID), and two-dimensional symbol technologies. The American National Standards Institute …
PhyTest Assists Doctors With Lab Testing Revenue
CEO SUMMARY: PhyTest, Inc., created a unique business model upon its founding in 1998. It primarily specializes in handling laboratory test billing and collection services to office-based physicians. It also provides evaluation, consulting, and implementation services to help physicians i…
Lab Automation Viewed As Essential Solution
CEO SUMMARY: A merger of three hospitals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, forced PinnacleHealth’s lab director to find new ways to increase efficiency. A lab automation project helped improve turnaround time and staff productivity and cut costs. The cost savings is about 50 cents per test, …
Federal Judge to Look at CMS Rule-Making in Anti-Markup Case
THERE’S BEEN WIDESPREAD INTEREST across the lab industry to news that on March 31, Uropath, LLC, won a preliminary injunction in its case to prevent the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing an anti-markup regulation for patho…
Quality Guru Joseph M. Juran Dies Six Weeks Ago at Age 103
HE DESCRIBED THE 20TH CENTURY as the Century of Productivity and expected the 21st Century to be the Century of Quality. Noted quality guru and management consultant Joseph M. Juran, Ph.D., died in his home in Rye, New York, on February 28 at the age of 103. Juran was the second seminal figure in th…
Labs Should Prepare for Tighter CLIA Enforcement
CEO SUMMARY: Lab directors and pathologists should take notice of disturbing new developments in enforcement of CLIA regulations. During the past year, CMS officials have revoked the CLIA certification of several hospital laboratories for what are, essentially, inadvertent violations of p…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXIII, No. 4 – March 23, 2026
A federal court ruling has established a safe harbor for clinical labs when they run tests ordered by physicians. Lab leaders should examine this briefing for pitfalls. Also, it turns out that providers may be ordering inappropriate vitamin D tests, according to one expert.
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