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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University of Michigan Pathologists Bet on Patient-Centered Care

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIV No. 3 – February 21, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: At the University of Michigan Medical Center, the Department of Pathology is learning new ways to add value that include face-to-face meetings with patients as part of UMMC’s patient- and family-centered care initiative. One lesson learned is that patients appreciate the op…

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Ending ‘Lab Tests as a Commodity’

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 2 – January 30, 2017 Issue

WITH HEALTHCARE POISED TO MAKE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES in both the delivery of care (think integration, ACOs, medical homes) and how providers are paid (less fee-for-service, more budgeted payment metho…

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Much Disruption for Labs In 2016’s Top 10 Stories

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIII, No. 17 – December 19, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Within THE DARK REPORT’S list of the Top 10 Lab Industry Stories for 2016 is one story of disruption that might have been one story of disruption about to happen. The disintegration of Theranos during 2016 is the big story about a self-proclaimed disruptor of the lab indust…

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Can Clinical Laboratories Adjust To ‘New’ Healthcare System?

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIII No. 14 – October 17, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Month by month, there is increased clarity in the path the American healthcare system will follow as hospitals, health systems, and physicians integrate clinical care, manage populations, and practice personalized and precision medicine. While these changes play out, clinical…

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Does Private Practice Pathology Have a Future?

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIII No. 3 – February 29, 2016 Issue

IN RECENT DECADES, A PROPORTION OF PATHOLOGISTS has been proud of the fact that the pathology profession—to a large extent—had managed to protect the vast majority of private pathology group practices from any number of powerful trends and market forces. In the 1990s, HMO contracting practices t…

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Lab Industry’s Non-Stories for 2015

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXII, Number 18 – December 28, 2015 Issue

AT THE END OF EACH YEAR, IT IS GENERALLY EASY TO PICK OUT the stories of greatest significance for the lab industry during the previous 12 months. But what is often overlooked are the non-stories. These are the events that did not happen in the year, despite earlier occurrences and the momentum pushi…

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Portland Lab Leverages Informatics for Growth – October 21, 2013

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XX No.14 – October 21, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In Portland, Oregon, Legacy Laboratory Services, a division of Legacy Health, continues to post strong volume growth. On…

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State of Clinical Lab Industry Likely to Be Mixed in 2016

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXII, Number 17 – December 7, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Over the next 24 months, it will be essential for every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology group to develop clinical and financial strategies that meet the changing needs of health insurers, hospitals and health systems, physicians, and patients. THE DARK REPORT provi…

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December 15, 2014 Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXI No. 17 – December 15, 2014 Issue

In certain respects, the noted physician and healthcare strategist Eric Topol, M.D., of Scripps Healthcare in La Jolla, California, can be considered a gadfly to pathology and the laboratory medicine profession. In his latest pronouncements on patient-centered healthcare, he warned c…

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