A pathology group is an organization of clinical pathologists working on the diagnosis of disease based on laboratory analysis of bodily fluids such as blood and urine, as well as tissues, using the tools of chemistry, clinical microbiology, hematology and molecular pathology. Clinical pathologists work in close collaboration with medical technologists, hospital administrations, and referring physicians.
The business model of a pathology group has traditionally been as a private group practice, including solo practitioner, medical group partnership, professional corporation (PC), limited liability company (LLC), and similar professional business organizations. It is common for pathology groups to have contracts with one or more hospitals to provide anatomic pathology professional services and clinical pathology professional services.
Pathology itself is a significant component of the causal study of disease and a major field in modern medicine and diagnosis. The term pathology may be used broadly to refer to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of bioscience research fields and medical practices, or more narrowly to describe work within the contemporary medical field of “general pathology,” which includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties which diagnose disease mostly through the analysis of tissue, cell, and body fluid samples.
Pathologists in hospital labs and pathology groups practice as consultant physicians, developing and applying knowledge of tissue and laboratory analyses to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of individual patients. As scientists, they use the tools of laboratory science in clinical studies, disease models, and other experimental systems, to advance the understanding and treatment of disease.
Clinical pathologists in a pathology group administer a number of visual and microscopic tests and an especially large variety of tests of the biophysical properties of tissue samples involving automated analyzers and cultures. Sometimes the general term “laboratory medicine specialist” is used to refer to those working in clinical pathology, including medical doctors, PhDs and doctors of pharmacology.
Immunopathology, the study of an organism’s immune response to infection, is sometimes considered to fall within the domain of clinical pathology.
Becoming a pathologist entails one of the lengthiest education and training tracks of all physicians. Requirements include four years of undergraduate study, plus four years of medical school, plus a minimum of four to five years of post-graduate training in pathology residency.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: At the last minute, Congress added all clinical laboratories to a far-reaching anti-kickback provision in the newly-enacted Support for Patients and Communities Act. This provision applies to all payers, both government and private. Lab experts say this new law could have a negative effect on patient care because it could make relatively innocuous
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 15 – October 22, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Each year since 2015, Medicare officials have posted the prices charged by every physician. That now makes it possible for pathology group practices to conduct a price study of their region and state to learn how their group’s prices compare with other pathology providers. A national pathology consultant points out that one way
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Payers and health system administrators generally agree that healthcare is moving away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment. Because adoption of value-based contracts is slower for pathologists than for other providers, pathologists have the opportunity to define how provider systems can pay for value contributed by pathologists. However, to take advantage of this opportunity,
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 4 – March 5, 2018 issue
TWO MAJOR, DISRUPTIVE CHANGES lie ahead for both clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology group practices. Each disruptive factor has nothing to do with how payers select in-network labs or reimburse for lab testing services.
Rather, one of these two major changes involves fundamental advances in the diagnostic technologies used by labs to diagnose disease and guide
By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXIV, No. 7 – May 15, 2017 issue
This is an excerpt from an 850-word article in the May 15, 2017, issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: There are few places and times where a broad cross-section of
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 17 – December 11, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Since Dec. 3, four unexpected megamergers became national news. Pharmacy chain CVS Health acquired Aetna. Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care will merge. UnitedHealth Group purchased the 2,000 physicians of DaVita Medical Group. Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiates decided to create a super-hospital system with 139 hospitals in 28 states. Clinical
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIV, No. 17 – December 11, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In hindsight, 2017 is likely to be remembered as a milestone year that launched several disruptive developments that will reshape the lab industry moving forward. For the clinical laboratory sector this year, CMS confirmed its intent to slash Part B clinical laboratory test prices aggressively, effective Jan. 1. For the anatomic pathology sector
This is an excerpt from a 2,400-word article in the Nov. 20, 2017 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: Here at the dawn of the new era of value-based
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 16 – November 20, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Just as Nero is reputed to have fiddled while Rome burned, officials at CMS seem to be doing their own fiddling as their planned deep price cuts to Medicare Part B lab tests could begin driving lab companies out of business. In recent weeks, the owners of two lab companies decided to sell
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 16 – November 20, 2017 issue
EVEN INTO THE MID 1980s, coal miners used canaries as an early-detection system for the presence of carbon monoxide and other toxic gases. In this way, canaries served as a sentinel species to save miners’ lives.
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups don’t have a sentinel species to warn them about trouble ahead, but they do have
