TAG:
Esoteric testing
Esoteric testing allows the analysis of rare substances or molecules that are not performed in a routine clinical lab. Many large commercial lab companies outsource complex tests to reference and esoteric testing labs. However, as technology continues to expand laboratory testing, tests that are considered esoteric today may become routine in just a few years. This is often the result of work performed by dedicated research and development scientists.
These tests are ordered when a physician requires additional detailed information, outside routine lab testing, to complete a diagnosis, establish a prognosis or choose and monitor a therapeutic regimen. Esoteric testing generally requires sophisticated instruments and materials as well as specialized personnel to perform and analyze results. The tests are typically outsourced to independent, specialized clinical reference laboratories because it is not cost effective for hospitals and physician office laboratories to perform the tests in-house.
These tests are ordered less frequently than routine tests and are generally priced higher than the routine tests. Esoteric testing is typically related to the medical fields such as endocrinology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, molecular diagnostics, oncology, serology and toxicology. Molecular diagnostics is the fastest growing segment of esoteric clinical testing.
The American Chemical Society publishes the Directory of Rare Analyses (DORA) which catalogues rarely ordered clinical tests and provides details on the labs performing them.
The challenges for labs performing such tests include not only finding qualified medical technologists, but also paying them the higher salaries they command because of the scarcity of their skill sets. In addition, materials used in these tests can also be costly, particularly because they are not usually purchased in large enough quantities to qualify for economies of scale.
Labs that perform these tests have capabilities including:
• Allergy
• Complex anatomic pathology with board-certified pathologist
• Bone markers
• Genetic analysis
• HLA testing
• Functional assays of the immune system
• Toxicology
In the U.S., labs that perform these tests range from ARUP Laboratories, Mayo Medical Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, and Laboratory Corporation of America to a growing number of specialty esoteric testing laboratories that offer proprietary esoteric assays. Examples of such specialty testing lab companies include Myriad Genetics, Genomic Health, and Foundation Medicine.
Ascend Clinical Acquires PathCentral Lab Business
CEO SUMMARY: Ascend Clinical and PathCentral see an opportunity to provide sophisticated services to community pathology groups. Ascend Clinical will expand the molecular diagnostic and gene sequencing business it is purchasing from PathCentral. PathCentral will concentrate on marketing i…
PAML, Pathology and New Opportunities
BY ANY MEASURE, MAJOR CHANGES ARE COMING to the profession of laboratory medicine. I assume that you are familiar with most of the trends, healthcare reforms, and significant reductions in lab test reimbursement that appear regularly in the headlines. Many of these developments are unfavorable to th…
Sonic Healthcare, Bio-Reference Report Financial Performance
IN RECENT WEEKS, two of the nation’s larger public laboratory companies issued their earnings reports. In both cases, revenue growth was strong, a distinct difference from the recent financial performance of their two largest lab public company competitors. It was on August 21, 2012, when …
Pathologists in China, U.S. Linked By Digital Pathology
CEO Summary: It is one of the first clinical collaborations of this type to be anchored by use of digital pathology. Pathologists at the medical schools of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are exc…
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…
Magnets to Move Tubes on ARUP’s Testing Line
CEO SUMMARY: In Salt Lake City, Utah, work is underway to pioneer use of an electro-magnetic conveyor system to automate the movement of large volumes of lab test specimens throughout the testing facility of ARUP Laboratories. Within two years, this new lab automation technology could all…
MedTox, Cleveland Clinic Labs, Apollo PACS, Dell, British Columbia Health
GENOME SEQUENCING TO BE OFFERED BY NORWAY IN NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN HERE’S A MILESTONE ON THE PATH TO PERSONALIZED MEDICINE. Norway is the first nation to announce that its national health system will incorporate whole genome sequencing. Cancer is the target of Norway’s f…
Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp Report Second Quarter Earnings
JUST ONE DAY APART, the nation’s two largest laboratory testing companies reported second quarter and half-year earnings for 2011. Each financial report opened a window into marketplace developments for the first six months of this year. First to release its earnings report was Quest Diagn…
PAML to Enter Kentucky With New Laboratory JV
CEO SUMMARY: This latest laboratory joint venture, in partnership with Saint Joseph Health System, gives Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, LLC (PAML), a solid presence in Kentucky’s laboratory testing marketplace. Over the past 10 years, PAML, which is based in the Pac…
Time to Think About ACOs And Medical Homes
CEO SUMMARY: In less than nine months—on January 1, 2012—the new health reform legislation mandates that Medicare commence value-based purchasing. Medicare must also begin contracting with accountable care organizations (ACO). Experts say these two developments will initiate …
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.