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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.

Florida Lab Story Has National Implications

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO THANK ALL OF YOU READERS who have contacted us with information, rumors, and useful intelligence about UnitedHealthcare’s laboratory benefit management program in Florida that is administered by BeaconLBS, a division of Laboratory Corporation of America. Your input, along with tha…

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Gearing Up the Laboratory to Exceed Expectations of External Customers

CEO SUMMARY: This is the third installment of THE DARK REPORT’S description of the Laboratory Value Pyramid. It describes “Level Three: Deliver Value that Exceeds Expectations.” This is the level where the laboratory organization now shifts its emphasis from internal operation of…

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Meaningful Use Stage 2 Is Problem for EHR Firms

CEO SUMMARY: EHR system vendors must now comply with the federal government’s Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements. Well-established EHR vendors will survive. But smaller EHR companies may struggle to provide the enhancements to their first generation EHR products that are require…

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Healthcare Cost Solutions Will Continue to Pinch Lab Industry Revenues in 2015

CEO SUMMARY: Will 2015 turn out to be a watershed year for the clinical laboratory industry? With healthcare cost solutions continuing to squeeze laboratory profits, two federal agencies are pushing forw…

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Lab Industry to Confront Major Issues during 2015

CEO SUMMARY: Will 2015 turn out to be a watershed year for the clinical laboratory industry? Not only are two federal agencies pushing forward with initiatives that will touch nearly every medical lab in the United States in the next 12 months, but other equally powerful trends c…

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Florida Pathologists Critical of UnitedHealth and BeaconLBS

CEO SUMMARY: In a letter to UnitedHealthcare, the Florida Society of Pathologists says UHC’s pilot laboratory management program will have a negative effect on patient care by delaying access to care and timely diagnoses of disease. Signed by more than 120 members…

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Top 10 2014 Biggest News Stories

Story no.1 SGR Fix by Congress Spawns PAMA; Lab Industry Wary of Law’s Impact ON APRIL 1, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA signed into law the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA). As written, it has the potential to be the most impactful federal legislation on the clinical lab industry s…

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Preparing the Next Generation of Lab Leaders

ACROSS THE LAB TESTING INDUSTRY, individual labs are caught in a serious conundrum. On one hand, the ongoing transformation of healthcare and the erosion of lab test revenues are putting the financial squeeze on a large number of clinical labs and pathology groups. On the other hand, at the very mom…

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PAMA, LDTs and Theranos Top 2014 Biggest News

CEO SUMMARY: Not in recent memory has a single calendar year brought such a cascade of news stories that have the potential to affect nearly every clinical lab and pathology group in the United States. Blame it on the lack of money to fund healthcare and how it is motivating government an…

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Medicare Special Stain LCD May Hinder Pathology Workflow

CEO SUMMARY: Under a proposed rule for Medicare region J-11, a pathologist will no longer be able to use “reflex templates or pre-orders for special stains and/or IHC stains prior to review of the routine H&E.” While the proposed LCD is designed to target a relatively small number…

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