By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
Pathologists and medical laboratory professionals the world over had a surprise on May 13 if they used Google for an Internet search. The doodle on the Google search home page honored pathologist Dr. Georgios Papanicolaou, who developed the Pap smear test used to screen for cervical cancer.
Papanicolaou was born in 1883 in Greece. He studied medicine in Greece and
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
TWO ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY SUPERGROUPS in two different regions joined forces this month. This happened when PathGroup of Nashville, acquired Pathologists Bio-Medical Laboratories (PBM) of Dallas.
Both groups are similar in that they are very large and do a combination of anatomic, clinical, and molecular testing. PathGroup has 75 physicians and PhDs on its staff and PBM
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: To develop new sources of revenue to offset declining fee-for-service payments, TriCore Reference Labs is collaborating with health insurers in novel ways to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs. To achieve this, TriCore brings together data from lab tests, EHRs, patient demographics, and geography. Analytical tools allow it to assess population health
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Attendees at the Executive War College learned that CMS has taken steps to expand the number of hospital labs required to report their private payer lab test price data under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, but the unbundling of certain test panels could be problematic. Problems can occur when labs either did
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: There was an interesting consensus that emerged from the 80 sessions and 118 speakers at this year’s Executive War College in New Orleans earlier this month. The consensus centered around two themes. One theme is disruption, which is bad news for those labs that hope to maintain the status quo. The other theme
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 issue
INTERESTING THINGS ARE UNFOLDING within the profession of anatomic pathology. If the adage of “follow the money” applies to understanding why things happen, then recent events support some surprising conclusions.
Take the news reported in this issue of The Dark Report that PathGroup of Nashville is acquiring Pathologists Bio-Medical Laboratories (PBML) of Dallas. That brings together two regional
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 6 – April 29, 2019 issue
Investor interest in digital pathology (DP) and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze digital pathology images seems to be at a fever pitch recently. In the last three weeks, investors poured almost $85 million of capital into just three digital pathology companies, as noted below. This activity may be a sign that certain DP
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 6 – April 29, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, health insurers are paying less for anatomic pathology services. This shrinks pathology group revenue and reduces pathologist compensation. Savvy pathology groups are responding to this trend by reviewing long-standing processes in their coding, billing, and collections department. Their goal is to update these billing and collections processes in ways that
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue
BeaconLBS announced a collaboration with MagnaCare of Garden City, N.Y., last month. The press release issued by the two companies stated that MagnaCare would use the “BeaconLBS Physician Decision Support (PDS) solution with its network of physician and laboratory providers.” MagnaCare describes itself as a company serving “Taft-Hartley funds, TPAs, carriers, and worker’s compensation and no-fault
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Many anatomic pathology groups are watching their revenue decline and margins shrink on the same or greater case volume. These trends make it imperative to have a deeper understanding of the operational and financial variables that contribute to stability in the group’s finances and pathologist compensation. One expert on the financial complexity of anatomic
