Mass Spec Tests Struggle To Gain Insurers’ Attention

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIV No. 9 – June 26, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Since 2014, a toxicology lab at the University of Colorado has used mass spectrometry to offer low-cost, accurate multi-analyte test panels that can detect hundreds of therapeutic drugs and drugs of abuse. However, CU Toxicology’s chief medical officer says health insurers …

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PAMA Economics Drives Merger Of Two Seattle-Area Pathology Groups

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIV No. 1 – January 9, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Among the three chief reasons for the merger of CellNetix and Puget Sound Institute of Pathology, the most compelling was the need to address the challenges in the current reimbursement environment and to prepare for reductions in payment to pathologists expected in the comin…

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Genetic Testing Lab Finds Payers Respond To Education on Test Utility

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIII No. 8 – June 13, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In recent years, insurers have raised the bar and become much tougher when making coverage and reimbursement decisions for molecular assays, genomic, and genetic tests. Yet several lab testing companies are having good success at demonstrating the validity and clinical utilit…

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Henry Ford Health System Laboratory Division Combines Lean with ISO 15189

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIII No. 3 – February 29, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: As healthcare transitions away from fee-for-service payment and adopts new models of reimbursement, every clinical lab will need to deliver more value with its lab testing services. At Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, the laboratory division has blazed a path of improving…

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Leveraging Testing Technology To Identify MRSA, C. Difficile

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XX No. 3 – March 4, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Probably the most challenging infections for hospitals to control and reduce are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff). The laboratory at one New York hospital introduced algorithms to screen for the presence of each i…

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‘Game Changer’ Mass Spectrometry for Microbiology at UNC

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXI No. 8 – June 9, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Microbiologists at the University of North Carolina are using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to slash the time to answer and significantly cut lab costs. Their goals are to improve patient outcomes and reduce average length of stay. In a one-year study presented last month, UNC …

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Clinical Labs Spending Money in New Ways

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXI No. 4 – March 17, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In response to the many changes now unfolding in the U.S. healthcare system, labs are investing their scarce capital in different ways. Five trends in lab spending can be identified. They range from expanding the informatics capabilities of a lab organization to acquiring the…

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Theranos Won’t Discuss Disruptive Lab Technology

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XX No. 13 – September 30, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In a partnership with Walgreens pharmacies, Theranos Inc. announced that it will run clinical lab tests on “micro-samples” and collect these blood samples without venipuncture. Even as Theranos touts the patient-friendly benefits of its proprietary diagnostic technology, …

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PeaceHealth Lab Helps Docs with Info to Improve Outcomes

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XX No. 11 – August 13, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Described by its CEO as “an information company that happens to do laboratory testing,” PeaceHealth Laboratories of Springfield, Oregon, is moving swiftly to develop and deliver value-added services to its client physicians. The lab’s goal is to help re…

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Securing your Lab’s Success as Healthcare Reforms

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XIX No. 5 – April 2, 2012 Issue

IT IS PROBABLY SAFE TO ASSUME THAT MOST OF YOU RECOGNIZE that the American healthcare system is about to undergo its most extensive transformation of the past 50 years. For better or for worse, we are about to see the end of medicine dominated by fee-for-service reimbursement and a fragmented deliver…

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