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Pathology group
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.
Pathology Labs Want Method To Correct Specimen ID Errors
CEO SUMMARY: When pathology labs discover instances of a misidentified or contaminated tissue specimen, there is a new service that allows them to retrospectively use DNA to properly match that specimen to the correct patient. In part two of our series, we look at how some pathology labs …
Ascend Clinical Acquires PathCentral Lab Business
CEO SUMMARY: Ascend Clinical and PathCentral see an opportunity to provide sophisticated services to community pathology groups. Ascend Clinical will expand the molecular diagnostic and gene sequencing business it is purchasing from PathCentral. PathCentral will concentrate on marketing i…
Price Cuts, Long Delays in Payment Are Expected
CEO SUMMARY: In addition to a steep cut in the 88305 CPT code, anatomic pathology laboratories can expect cuts in the payment from Medicare for molecular and prostate biopsy testing. Two national experts in lab billing and reimbursement warn labs to expect confusion in how both public and…
2012’s Top Ten Lab Stories Predict More Challenges
CEO SUMMARY: It’s been a year with more lows than highs, when viewed through the lens of THE DARK REPORT’S “Top Ten Lab Stories of 2012.” The end of the TC grandfather clause, new policies for prostate biopsy billing, and a dramatic 52% cut to 88305- TC fees were widely reported. …
Pathologists Benefit from Hospital Lab Consulting
CEO SUMMARY: Deteriorating finances at many rural hospitals and smaller community hospitals is a growing trend. It is also a new consulting opportunity for local pathologists because financially-strapped hospitals often give their labs inadequate working capital and lack the staff needed …
New Business Helps Reduce Pathology Specimen ID Errors
CEO SUMMARY: Prevention of diagnostic testing errors is getting more attention by both physicians and pathology labs because patients are less tolerant of potentially life-changing errors. Strand Diagnostics’ Know Error system is designed to reduce or eliminate errors involving tissue s…
Four California Labs Sue Quest and Three Insurers
CEO SUMMARY: Allegations of anticompetitive and monopolistic behaviors that violate state and federal laws are the basis of a private lawsuit filed by four independent clinical lab companies in California. The defendants are Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, Aetna, Blue Shield of California…
PAML, Pathology and New Opportunities
BY ANY MEASURE, MAJOR CHANGES ARE COMING to the profession of laboratory medicine. I assume that you are familiar with most of the trends, healthcare reforms, and significant reductions in lab test reimbursement that appear regularly in the headlines. Many of these developments are unfavorable to th…
More Medicare Auditors Are Targeting Clinical Labs
CEO SUMMARY: For labs and all healthcare providers, the risk of an audit is growing because the number of auditors seeking overpayments is rising. In their efforts to eliminate waste and make the Medicare and state Medicaid programs more efficient, federal officials have introduced severa…
First-Mover Labs Reveal Success with Lean & QMS
CEO SUMMARY: There is good news for those clinical labs and pathology groups currently operating robust Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement programs. The Institute of Medicine’s new report calls for all healthcare providers to rapidly transform themselves into ‘continuously learn…
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