Quest Reports 46% Decline in New Cancer Diagnoses in March

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVII, No. 12 – August 24, 2020 Issue

ONCE SHELTER-IN-PLACE ORDERS WERE ENACTED IN MARCH because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of new diagnoses of cancer declined sharply in the United States. Newly-published data confirms this fact. The data also support the warnings of anatomic pathologists that—because of the pandemi…

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Houston Errors Are Every Clinical Pathologist’s Fear

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXVI No. 10 – July 22, 2019 Issue

Due to medical errors, three patients died in three Houston hospitals in a short period of time. Each adverse event led to inspections by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and sanctions as tough as revocation of deemed status for participation in the Medica…

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Northwell Health Lab Team Leverages Data to Add Value

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 8 – June 10, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Today, insurers get risk-adjusted payments for treating patients who have high-cost health conditions and they make risk-adjusted payments to physicians, hospitals, and other providers. At Northwell Health, the clinical lab saw the opportunity to leverage lab test data with …

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Sonic to Pay $540 Million to Buy Aurora Diagnostics

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 18 – December 24, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Sonic Healthcare, Ltd., announced that it would pay $540 million—a multiple of 9.2 times EBITDA—to acquire Aurora Diagnostics, the anatomic pathology company based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Sonic will gain 32 pathology practice sites and add 220 pathologists to its netw…

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U of Florida Health Improves Patient Care with PGx Testing

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Since 2011, the University of Florida Health System has used pharmacogenetic test (PGx) results to guide physicians when they prescribe certain drugs. This initiative has improved patient outcomes, reduced the overall cost per episode of care, and gained partial reimbursemen…

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Newsmaker Interview: Healthcare’s Transformation Now Bringing Changes to Lab Industry

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 3 – February 12, 2018 Issue

“Today, patients want to get diagnosis and treatment faster with fewer visits to the doctor’s office. They want speedier and more comprehensive delivery of clinical services, be it laboratory tests, imaging, or other procedures.” …

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Paths of Hospital Labs, Independent Labs Diverge

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 16 – November 20, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: With each passing year, the primary role of hospital and health system labs evolves in a different direction than that of independent lab companies. This trend is a response to the creation of integrated delivery networks paid on value and how they are scored on their ability…

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Big Payers Want to Bring Order to Genetic Testing

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 12 – August 28, 2017 Issue

IMPORTANT CHANGES ARE POISED TO TRANSFORM genetic testing. As this happens, there will be a new crop of winners and losers among genetic testing labs. Recent events can be interpreted as favoring two trends that most genetic testing companies consider as unfavorable to their interests. One trend is …

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Cautious Optimism Seen At Executive War College

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 7 – May 15, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Among the major themes to emerge from the more than 60 sessions and 100 speakers at this year’s Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management were the accelerating pace of integrated care, the growth of precision medicine, and use of big data to guide physicians. Ot…

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Are Clinical Labs Prepared for What Is to Come?

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 4 – March 13, 2017 Issue

IT IS TIMELY TO ASK THE QUESTION, “Are the nation’s clinical laboratories prepared to deal with the multiple challenges already visible in the healthcare marketplace today?” What leads me to ask this question is the unexpected number of deals involving the hospital lab outreach programs announ…

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