2022’s Top 10 Lab Stories Confirm Challenging Times

By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXIX, No. 17 – December 12, 2022 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: There are valuable insights to be gleaned from The Dark Report’s “Top 10 Lab Industry Stories for 2022.” Several of this year’s story picks involve external forces reshaping healthcare in the United States in profound ways. Other story picks for 2022 illustrate …

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Despite the Challenges, Labs Are Prevailing

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIX, No. 6 – April 25, 2022 Issue

EVENTS IN THE WORLD, THE UNITED STATE, AND THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM over the past two years have challenged clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups in unprecedented ways.  Stand back for a moment and consider what has unfolded since Jan. 1,…

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Lab Staffing Shortages Reaching Dire Levels

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 6 – April 25, 2022 Issue

This is an excerpt of a 1,423-word article in the April 4, 2022 issue of  THE DARK REPORT. The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: Just weeks ago, CAP Today characterized the current lab staffing shortage as going “from simmer t…

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Decline in COVID-19 Test Orders Signals a Shift

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 5 – April 4, 2022 Issue

MIGHT THE FEDERAL HEALTHCARE ESTABLISHMENT BE CLOSE TO DECLARING AN END TO THE SARS-COV2 PANDEMIC and—given the ongoing decline in the daily number of new cases and deaths—that COVID-19 is expected to become an endemic disease?  The SARS-CoV-2 statis…

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California Agency Problems Deepened Valencia Branch Laboratory Saga

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 5 – April 4, 2022 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Adding a new twist in the ongoing saga of the CLIA compliance failures at the Valencia Branch Laboratory in California are insights from a former clinical laboratory director familiar with the industry in California. He observed that problems at California’s Laborator…

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PerkinElmer Says California Terminated COVID-19 Contract

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 5 – April 4, 2022 Issue

ACCORDING TO A NEW SECURITIES FILING FROM PERKINELMER, the State of California served notice of termination of the company’s contract to run the beleaguered Valencia Branch Laboratory (VBL). PerkinElmer, a diagnostics firm based in Waltham, Mass., made the surprising announcement a…

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Federal Healthcare Fraud Enforcement Turns to Emerging Areas

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 5 – April 4, 2022 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Healthcare compliance attorneys say the Department of Justice (DOJ) is turning its focus to fraudulent activity related to COVID-19 testing. But that’s not the only area attracting greater scrutiny by the DOJ. Fraud stemming from opioid treatment has snared clinical l…

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March 14, 2022 Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 4 – March 14, 2022 Issue

Telehealth proved to be popular with Medicare patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The federal U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported telehealth visits for Medicare beneficiaries increased in 2020 by an incredible 63 times—from approximately 840,000 in 2019 to 52.7 m…

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SUNY Hospital Uses Drones to Move COVID Test Kits

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 14 – October 18, 2021 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: One healthcare trend accelerated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the use of drones to move COVID-19 test kits, specimens, and medical supplies. Earlier this year, the SUNY Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse tested the reliability of drones to move unused COVI…

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Clinical Labs Step Up, But Serious Problems Are Ahead

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXVII No. 6 – April 20, 2020 Issue

ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, CLINICAL LABORATORIES ARE LIVING a good news/bad news story. The good news is that the essential role every lab plays in enabling fast, accurate diagnoses is now at the top of the news cycle. Daily, citizens of this country hear from the President and health officials th…

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