OIG Finds 120-Day Delays at Memphis VA Path Lab

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 12 – September 3, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Last year, Veterans Administration officials received an anonymous complaint about delays in laboratory specimen processing and results at the Memphis VA Medical Center may have harmed patients and led to a patient death. Following an investigation, the VA’s Office of Inspe…

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November 20, 2017 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 16 – November 20, 2017 Issue

Last Friday, Roche announced an agreement to acquire Viewics, Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., in a transaction that, subject to regulatory clearance, is expected to close on Nov. 21. Viewics sells a middleware analytics solution to clinical labs. Terms of the sale were n…

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July 17, 2017 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 10 – July 17, 2017 Issue

Here’s an update on Theranos, the troubled lab company that is struggling to stay alive. Once again, reporter John Carreyrou of The Wall Street Journal scooped his peers by reporting that Theranos has listed its corporate offices for lease. For lab companies shopping for …

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Theranos, Capital Blue Sign Lab Test Agreement

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXII No. 10 – July 13, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: With each passing month, Theranos is looking more like a traditional clinical laboratory company, based on how it is expanding its patient service center network and courier/logistics system into different regions while pursuing managed care contracts with health ins…

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Locked Out of Payer Network, NH Hospital Opens Lab Company

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXII No. 4 – March 9, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Since Anthem launched its site of service program in New Hampshire in 2010, labs in the state’s hospitals have mostly been excluded from its network and have lost market share. Recently one community hospital developed an unusual strategy to win back those patients…

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Medicare OPPS Rule Has Pitfalls for Labs

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXI No. 2 – February 3, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: On January 1, the new Medicare rule for requiring bundled or packaged reimbursement for certain services covered by the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) became effective. Just four days earlier (on December 27), Medicare officials issued instructions on h…

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New Business Helps Reduce Pathology Specimen ID Errors

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XIX No. 17 – December 10, 2012 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Prevention of diagnostic testing errors is getting more attention by both physicians and pathology labs because patients are less tolerant of potentially life-changing errors. Strand Diagnostics’ Know Error system is designed to reduce or eliminate errors involving tissue s…

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Lab Specimen Transport Eliminates Need for Ice

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XIX No. 13 – September 17, 2012 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Because of its unique design and reliability, a new product for transporting laboratory specimens and units of blood without the use of ice and dry ice is gaining favor with innovative laboratories across the country. Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States uses this ice…

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Critical Access Hospitals Losing Lab Test Work

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XIX No. 5 – April 2, 2012 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: One consequence of a new “site of service” health plan instituted by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire is that community hospitals—particularly in rural areas—are being asked by patients to collect blood and lab specimens, then send them off to Anthem…

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EMR Donations, Client Bill Issues in Anatomic Path

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XVII No. 7 – May 10, 2010 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In today’s market for anatomic pathology services, local pathology practices are facing tough competition from national pathology companies that are quite aggressive at using EHR donations and discounted client bill arrangements to win new clients. Attorney Jane Pi…

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