By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Since 2014, a toxicology lab at the University of Colorado has used mass spectrometry to offer low-cost, accurate multi-analyte test panels that can detect hundreds of therapeutic drugs and drugs of abuse. However, CU Toxicology’s chief medical officer says health insurers are slow to accept this diagnostic technology, despite its demonstrated clinical benefit
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, pathologists are at a crossroads. Now that the FDA has cleared a digital pathology and whole slide imaging (WSI) system for use in primary diagnosis, should they adopt this technology sooner or wait until later? One pathologist who has worked with WSI for many years shared the lessons learned in
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In Dallas, the relatively short-lived lab company known as Med Fusion has a new owner. After seven years, the lab partnership of Baylor Scott and White, US Oncology Network, Texas Oncology, and Pathologists Bio-Medical Laboratories decided to sell their ownership stakes to Quest Diagnostics. The sale comes despite $100 million of capital and
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: News that Quest Diagnostics had exited the long-running CompuNet Clinical Laboratory joint venture in Dayton, Ohio, caught many observers by surprise. The only clues as to possible problems and the motivation of Premier Health, the 51% owner, to buy out Quest’s ownership share are contained in an announcement the health system issued. The
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
IT IS ALWAYS A BIG DEAL WHEN ONE OF THE NATION’S LARGEST HEALTH INSURERS TAKES A MAJOR STEP. That is certainly true of Anthem’s decision to launch a new program that requires physicians to obtain pre-authorization when ordering genetic tests for its members.
THE DARK REPORT is first to report this news to the clinical laboratory
By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXIV, No. 9 – June 26, 2017 issue
This is an excerpt from a 1,362-word article in the June 26, 2017 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: For lab managers worried about being parceled out to a national
This is an excerpt from a 1,485-word article in the June 5, 2017 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: At a time when most molecular and genetic testing companies are
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIV, No. 8 – June 5, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Last month’s lawsuit filed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi against a small rural hospital in Mississippi and multiple defendant lab companies in Texas is the latest attempt by health insurers to rein the widespread fraud that threatens to overwhelm the pain management and toxicology sectors of healthcare. Increasingly, the nation’s community
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 8 – June 5, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: At a time when most molecular and genetic testing companies are struggling to gain coverage for their tests, this Silicon Valley-based lab company has become an in-network lab provider for a number of health insurers—including three of the nation’s largest payers. It did this by establishing a patient-friendly price of $249 for its
By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXIV, No. 7 – May 15, 2017 issue
This is an excerpt from an 850-word article in the May 15, 2017, issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: There are few places and times where a broad cross-section of
