Tag: informatics

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 reimbursement from health insurers for PGx test claims. As this testing becomes more widespread, clinical

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Sonic Adds More Value to Help Physicians Treat CKD Patients

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue

BUILDING ON THE LESSONS IT LEARNED by developing lab services that helped primary care physicians identify, diagnose, and treat diabetes patients in their practices, Sonic Healthcare USA was ready to do the same for another disease.

Sonic wanted to go beyond simply reporting an accurate and timely lab test result. Instead, it wanted to leverage the

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Sonic Uses Lab Data, Patient-Contact Tools, to Improve Outcomes

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue

CEO SUMMARY: In its work for a federally qualified health center, Sonic Healthcare USA helped physicians use a data-driven approach to population health management that incorporated integrated financial and clinical analytics. Also, Sonic developed technologies that give ordering physicians clinical decision support and targeted patient engagement tools. It then developed a way to contact patients

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Project Santa Fe Labs Deliver Value with Tests

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue

CEO SUMMARY: No bigger threat looms over the financial security of the nation’s clinical laboratories than healthcare’s transition from fee-for-service payment to value-based reimbursement. To navigate that transition successfully, medical labs and pathology groups will need to adopt the Clinical Lab 2.0 model. Member labs of Project Santa Fe are themselves working to develop and

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Michigan’s Ascension labs work together to align with a fully integrated health system

By Mary Van Doren

CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to continuously improve patient outcomes. THE DARK REPORT outlines an ambitious program in Michigan, where Ascension Health is working to align itself with an integrated health system

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Michigan’s Ascension to Standardize Labs Throughout the State

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to improve patient outcomes continuously. In Michigan, Ascension Health is an example of a lab team working to standardize lab testing activities among seven organizations, 14 hospitals,

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Cleveland Clinic Lab dramatically reduces doctors ordering unnecessary tests

By maryv, from the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue

This is an excerpt from a 2,920-word article in the May 7, 2018 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: In an insightful report, THE DARK REPORT shows how one lab

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Cleveland Clinic Lab Has Multi-year Test Utilization Success

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Over the 24 months of a first-generation round of laboratory test utilization management projects, the Cleveland Clinic laboratories prevented more than 30,000 duplicate or inappropriate test orders, saving almost $2.7 million. Now implementing a second-generation of labtest utilization projects, the lab’s seven-year effort has prevented 160,072 tests and saved more than $5 million.

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Key Lab Trends Described At Executive War College

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Innovative clinical labs and pathology groups are absorbing this year’s Medicare Part B price cuts while continuing to pursue opportunities to add value. A common theme from many speakers at last week’s Executive War College in New Orleans is that the lab must get mastery of its LIS and informatics specifically to enable

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Digital Pathology Can Be Transformative for Labs

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, pathologists are at a crossroads. Now that the FDA has cleared a digital pathology and whole slide imaging (WSI) system for use in primary diagnosis, should they adopt this technology sooner or wait until later? One pathologist who has worked with WSI for many years shared the lessons learned in

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Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018

DID CONGRESS JUST PASS A LAW that makes innocent labs guilty of criminal acts? At the last minute, Congress added all clinical laboratories to a far-reaching anti-kickback provision in the newly-enacted Support for Patients and Communities Act -- a provision that makes common practices such as paying commissions to sales staff or placing phlebotomists in labs could be illegal. Worse: The experts are baffled by the language of the new law. Notes one of these experts in this issue, "Someone in the clinical lab industry may have to get prosecuted before we get some clarity, unless the Secretary of HHS issues clarifying regulations."

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Tag: informatics

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