By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
PROBLEMS WITH CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING IN IRELAND continue to make headlines in the Irish newspapers and roil the Irish health system. Caught up in this story are two billion-dollar lab companies that performed cervical cancer screening under contract to the Irish Health Service.
THE DARK REPORT provided its first coverage of these developments in its previous
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: For medical directors and pathologists interested in improving their labs’ compliance with CLIA regulations, a report from federal and state inspectors of an inspection of the pathology lab at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center offers insights into what issues caught the inspectors’ attention. During their visit in February, the government lab inspectors
By maryv
CEO SUMMARY: In response to information the staff provided to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital’s risk manager last fall, and following a federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inspection in February, CMS describes deficiencies found as “an immediate jeopardy to the health and safety of patients” at the 885-bed hospital. THE DARK REPORT’s analysis shows
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 6 – April 16, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In response to information the pathology lab staff provided to the hospital’s risk manager last fall, and following a federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inspection in February, the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is taking corrective action to fix serious deficiencies in its anatomic pathology laboratory. In reports issued in February
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 6 – April 16, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Discovery of multiple diagnostic errors occurring in an anatomic pathology department triggered a complaint investigation and a 54-page report from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The report shows that Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is reviewing more than 9,000 pathology cases to identify incorrect cancer diagnoses. Last month, the medical
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXI NO. 2 – February 3, 2014 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In the United Kingdom, a window of opportunity has opened for improving the quality assurance activities of pathology and histopathology laboratories. Last week, at the Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine conference, the newly-published “Pathology Quality Assurance Review” was the focus of several keynote sessions. One recommendation is to develop key assurance indicators (KAIs) that
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XIX No. 14 - October 8, 2012 issue
CEO SUMMARY: There will be an expanding role for innovative clinical labs as healthcare moves forward on its path toward personalized medicine. However, to capitalize on this opportunity, pathology groups and clinical labs will need to beef up their information systems. They will also need to recruit lab staff who are skilled in interpreting molecular
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIX No. 10 - July 16, 2012 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In some ways, the story of the New Zealand’s health system’s 15-year strategy to reduce the cost of clinical laboratory testing is a cautionary tale for public laboratory companies in the United States. During THE DARK REPORT’S site visit to several private labs in New Zealand last week, the consequences were easily seen
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIX No. 10 - July 16, 2012 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Digital pathology holds the promise of interconnecting pathologists around the globe in ways that advance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient outcomes. One pioneering digital pathology collaboration involves the pathology departments at the medical schools of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
PART ONE OF A SERIES
DIGITAL PATHOLOGY
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIX No. 8 - June 04, 2012 issue
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 United Kingdom, efforts by the government dating back to
