Health System Lab Is Genotyping To Identify Best Drugs for Patients

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIV No. 2 – January 30, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: One essential element of precision medicine will be the regular use of pharmacogenomic testing to provide additional guidance to physicians when selecting the most appropriate therapeutics and optimal dose for each individual patient. Despite the reluctance of private payers …

Read More

---

Palmetto GBA Issues Guidance On Billing NGS Test Panels

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIII No. 3 – February 29, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Across the lab industry, next generation sequencing is taking hold as an effective and efficient testing platform. In response, payers are developing coding and payment policies that may affect the finances of clinical labs. Last month, Palmetto GBA, a Medicare contractor, is…

Read More

---

Leveraging Testing Technology To Identify MRSA, C. Difficile

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XX No. 3 – March 4, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Probably the most challenging infections for hospitals to control and reduce are methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. diff). The laboratory at one New York hospital introduced algorithms to screen for the presence of each i…

Read More

---

TriCore Lab Adds Value with Consults, Better TAT

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XX No. 8 – June 17, 2013 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Motivated by the goal of delivering more value to clinicians and client hospitals, the lab team at TriCore Reference Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is proactively introducing new services. One such initiative is to travel to hospitals to participate in rounds and co…

Read More

---

Roche Offers $5.7 Billion To Acquire Illumina Inc.

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XIX No. 2 – January 30, 2012 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Once again, Roche is hunting for gene sequencing and gene analysis technology that can support its goal of being a world leader in gene-based therapeutics and clinical lab testing that utilizes gene tests and molecular diagnostics. Last week, Roche launched a hostile stock te…

Read More

---

GHSU Graduates Med Techs Using Distance Training

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIX No. 2 – January 30, 2012 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Many clinical labs experiencing a shortage of trained medical laboratory scientists (MLS) in their city continue to overlook how the use of distance training programs could help them attract and retain top-performers. Leaders of the clinical laboratory scientist (CLS…

Read More

---

October 17, 2011 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XVIII No. 14 – October 17, 2011 Issue

Have you ever heard the term “digital PCR” (Polymerase Chain Reaction)? That technology was of such interest to Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., that it just paid $162 million to acquire QuantaLife, Inc., the company that developed this digital PCR technology. The dea…

Read More

---

Influenza A Test Is a Help When Screening for H1N1

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XVI No. 8 – June 8, 2009 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Viracor Laboratories is preparing to handle expanded volumes of influenza testing prior to the start of the next flu season. It will use added instrumentation and expanded working hours to expand capacity. Another strategy is to use influenza A testing as a way to re…

Read More

---

August 18, 2008 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XV No. 11 – August 18, 2008 Issue

There’s a new lab company in New York City. Manhattan Physicians Laboratory, Inc. (MPL) was recently launched by two former executives from Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Thomas Golubic is MPL’s President and William Nouri is Vice President and Lab Operations Di…

Read More

---

FDA Approves New Test For Respiratory Viruses

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XV No. 1 – January 21, 2008 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Respiratory viruses are responsible for 75% of all visits to physicians and yet physicians struggle to identify whether an infection is viral or bacterial. Now there is a new molecular assay with FDA clearance that allows physicians to test for 12 common vira…

Read More

---