Since 1995, Reliable Business Intelligence for Clinical Laboratories, Pathology Groups and Laboratory Diagnostics

Search

TAG:

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.

IBM, Cal Tech, E-Patients, Qiagen, Digene, SABiosciences

DNA NANOCHIP IS GOAL OF IBM SCIENTISTS ADVANCES IN GENETIC AND MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES are giving pathologists new tools for diagnosing disease and guiding therapy. But what often receives less attention is how genetic and molecular technologies are finding applications in other scientific fi…

Read More



Costs Falling Swiftly for Whole Genome Sequence

CEO SUMMARY: Several companies want to be first to achieve the holy grail in sequencing: an accurate whole human genome sequence produced in an hour for $1,000. Complete Genomics announced earlier this month that it could sequence the full human genome for a materials cost of $4,400 (not …

Read More



Geisinger’s Use of EHR Creates Opportunity for Lab to Add Value

CEO SUMMARY: Every health reform proposal makes it a high priority to implement a universal electronic medical record (EHR). Because lab test data is the essential component of a successful EHR, laboratory managers and pathologists may soon have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use EHR…

Read More



Xerox, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard Each Buy Into IT Outsourcing Market

IN RECENT WEEKS, TWO BIG PLAYERS spent billions to buy seats at the healthcare information technology (IT) table. Just one week apart, Xerox Corporation and Dell, Inc., acquired Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., and Perot Systems Corp….

Read More



November 23, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Identity theft was a key part of a financial fraud that Adeniyi Adeyemi, 27, used to steal approximately $1 million from accounts belonging to 11 not-for-profits and trusts. Among the victims was the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC). Adeyemi was a computer technician…

Read More



Health Info Exchange (HIE) Helps South Bend Lab

CEO SUMMARY: Across the country, there are many efforts to create Regional Health Information Exchanges (HIEs). This has the potential to change the way laboratories connect electronically with referring physicians. This is true in South Bend, Indiana, where the Michiana Health I…

Read More



New Privacy Breach Law Requires Labs to Respond

CEO SUMMARY: There were plenty of headlines about the passage of HITECH last February because of how it expanded funding for electronic medical records. But lesser known are new requirements that providers, including labs and pathology groups, must now take specific compliance ac…

Read More



November 02, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

Digital microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technologies are being combined to create a new way to measure breast estrogen levels in women. An interdisciplinary group at the University of Toronto developed a lab-on-a-chip technique to analyze blood and breast tissue to identify women at …

Read More



Expert Says Time is Now For Labs to Adopt QMS

CEO SUMMARY: Laboratories in the United States are knowledgeable about the use of quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) programs. But QC and QA represent only two small parts of a comprehensive quality management system (QMS), says Lucia Berte, an expert in lab quality. One bene…

Read More



Scripps’ Tumor Board Finds Value in Digital Imaging of Slides

CEO Summary: When the Pathology Department at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, was considering the purchase of a digital imaging system, it gained unlikely allies. Non-pathologist physicians participating in the department’s tumor boards advocated for the purchase afte…

Read More



How Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?

Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!

Sign up for TDR Insider

Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.

;