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six sigma black belt
To Add Value, Focus on Patient Care
FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, and particularly since Congress passed the Patient Access to Medicare Act in 2014, clinical labs have focused on controlling costs, as they should. After all, PAMA calls …
Labs Begin Applying Lean to Cut Costs, Add Value
CEO SUMMARY: In more than 40 presentations by 55 speakers, two big themes dominated the 11th annual Lab Quality Confab in New Orleans last week. One theme is the urgent need to cut clinical laboratory costs. The second theme is the need for both clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups…
Labs Share Successes in Delivering More Value
CEO SUMMARY: As the number of accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes grows monthly, a handful of innovative labs are seizing the opportunity to develop and deliver lab testing services that add more value to physicians and patients. These early-adopter labs reco…
Narrower Provider Networks Topic during Quest Conference Call
SINCE MAY 1, 2012, the nation’s largest clinical laboratory company has had a new CEO, who is Stephen H. Rusckowski. The company’s second quarter conference call provided an opportunity to learn more about how he views Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Conducted on July 19, the fi…
Christian Hospital Laboratory Goes Lean with Solid Results
CEO SUMMARY: As part of a major restructuring program under way at Christian Hospital in St. Louis, Laboratory Administrator Bette J. Stanley decided to apply Lean quality management methods in projects to improve work processes in phlebotomy and the chemistry department. Using internal q…
Molecular Diagnostics’ “Gap in Expectations”
CEO SUMMARY: This year’s Executive War College provided strong evidence that the twin trends of molecular diagnostics and Lean management methods are taking root within the laboratory industry. Each is a trend in its infancy. Molecular diagnostics will require considerable time before i…
“Lean” Quality Methods Transform Core Lab In Florida Hospital
CEO SUMMARY: DSI Laboratories of Fort Myers, Florida became the nation’s first hospital laboratory to apply the “Lean” quality management system to a high volume core laboratory. In just 13 weeks, DSI’s Lean team created a work cell which performs 80% of the test volume in a 400-b…
New Trends in 2003 Affect Clinical Lab Services
CEO SUMMARY: Here’s our current list of macro trends that affect clinical laboratories, updated from the last list in January 2000. One bold prediction is that Medicare, as we know it, is on the verge of a major meltdown. Employers and consumers are also new forces to be reckoned with b…
Ken Freeman Discusses Plans to Integrate AML and Unilab
CEO SUMMARY: Once again, Ken Freeman and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is altering the national market for clinical laboratory testing. By acquiring American Medical Laboratories and Unilab, the nation’s largest lab company is expanding its presence in California, Nevada, and Washingto…
First-Ever “Black Belt” Certified In an American Hospital Lab
IT WAS A BIG DEAL in the laboratory of Grant Riverside Hospital of Columbus, Ohio when Lab Site Manager Sandra Hood received her certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt on January 23, 2002. That’s because hospital administrators had selected the laboratory to be hospital’s guine…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
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