Benchmarking with the Best To Be a World Class Laboratory

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXII No. 5 – March 30, 2015 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: This fourth installment of this special series about the laboratory value pyramid introduces “Level Four: Use Benchmarks to Achieve Best-in-Class.” This is the highest level of the four level pyramid. When a lab organization performs at this level, it will be deliver…

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Top laboratory management requires top business skills

By Mary Van Doren | From the Volume XXII No. 5 – March 30, 2015 Issue

Every lab organization should aspire to achieve the attributes of Level Four: Use Benchmarks to Achieve Best-in-Class because this is the level of performance where the lab is delivering optimal clinical value at highest quality and lowest cost. This is an effort in which the business skills…

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Busy Year Demonstrated By Top Ten Lab Stories

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIV No. 17 – December 10, 2007 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: As it turns out, 2007 has been an action-packed year with lots of events, plenty of changes, and the promise of even faster evolution across all sectors of the lab testing marketplace. THE D…

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More Labs Actively Adopt Quality Management

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIV No. 14 – October 8, 2007 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: With almost 300 speakers, attendees, and vendors in attendance from seven countries, Lab Quality Confab was a significant milestone for the global lab industry. On one level, it was a sign that the quality improvement trend has come of age. On another level, it provided ample…

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Quest South Florida Wins Governor’s Award for Quality

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIV No. 13 – September 17, 2007 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: It’s an important milestone for the clinical laboratory profession. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated South Florida, based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, earned the 2007 Florida Governor’s Sterling Award for quality. This is only the second laboratory in this country to win a …

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Recognizing Laboratory Leadership

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XIV No. 9 – June 25, 2007 Issue

WHEN LABORATORY CORPORATION OF AMERICA CLOSES ON THE SALE and becomes the owner of DSI Laboratories, Inc., of Fort Meyers, Florida, it will mark the end of one of the nation’s oldest hospital laboratory outreach programs. I consider this to be a good news/bad news…

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Christian Hospital Laboratory Goes Lean with Solid Results

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIII No. 4 – March 20, 2006 Issue

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…

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Many Trends in AP Spell Lots of Change Ahead

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIII No. 2 – February 6, 2006 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Every second year, THE DARK REPORT releases its list of key trends in anatomic pathology. These trends help shape an understanding about the state of the pathology profession. Our current list includes 11 identifiable trends. This is not an auspicious sign for pathologists wh…

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Sonora Quest Receives Highest AZ Quality Award

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XIII No. 2 – February 6, 2006 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: After several years of intense effort to implement quality management systems and Six Sigma techniques throughout its organization, Sonora Quest Laboratories earned the Arizona Quality Program’s highest honor—the Governor’s Award for Quality. This is an accomplishment w…

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Mayo’s Scottsdale Hospital Lab Hits Big “Lean” Home Runs

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XI No. 12 – August 30, 2004 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Are Lean and Six Sigma techniques ready to make a big contribution in the laboratories of smaller hospitals? If you ask lab managers at Mayo Clinic’s Scottsdale Hospital, the answer is an unqualified “Yes!” Their 15-week Lean project in the hospital’s high volume core…

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