CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to continuously improve patient outcomes. THE DARK REPORT outlines an ambitious program in Michigan, where Ascension Health is working to align itself with an integrated health system
Tag: the dark report
Under Audit, Labs Need Statistics on Their Side
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: When commercial and government payers use auditors to review a lab’s claims, they often use statistical sampling and extrapolation to limit the time needed to review claims. But proper sampling and extrapolation require following the rigorous scientific methods to produce a representative sample of claims to draw conclusions they can apply to the
Michigan’s Ascension to Standardize Labs Throughout the State
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to improve patient outcomes continuously. In Michigan, Ascension Health is an example of a lab team working to standardize lab testing activities among seven organizations, 14 hospitals,
Morgan Stanley Report Shows 8% of Hospitals at Risk of Closure
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue
AMONG THE ROUGHLY 6,500 HOSPITALS OPERATING in the United States, only about 125 (2.5%) have closed in the past five years. But in the coming years, some 450 hospitals are at risk of closing. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said 600 other hospitals have weak finances that could lead them to close.
In the report, Morgan Stanley,
Biggest Lab Firms Diverge on Hospital Lab Strategies
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Almost half of the nation’s hospitals and health systems are rethinking how to use their clinical labs to support clinical and financial strategies. Options range from outright sale of their lab outreach businesses to lab management agreements or joint ventures with one of the nation’s three billion-dollar public lab companies. Each of the
Is the Joint Venture Hospital Lab an Emerging Trend?
By maryv, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: THE DARK REPORT has uncovered a previously unnoticed trend that turns common wisdom on Wall Street upside down: Hospitals and health systems may be taking back control of their their laboratory outreach programs instead of selling them, and committing major resources to their inpatient labs instead of outsourcing their management. This joint venture
Anthem Alleges $16M in Calif. Hospital Lab Fraud
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Anthem and affiliated Blue Cross Blue Shield plans alleged that 37-bed Sonoma West Medical Center, a Florida lab testing company, a medical billing company, and others used a pass-through lab test billing scheme to defraud Anthem and its
Do Hospitals Want to Sell or Outsource Their Labs?
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
This is an excerpt from a 883-word article in the August 20, 2018 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article and two related articles are available to all readers, with a three-article cap.
CEO SUMMARY: Common wisdom on Wall Street is that many hospitals and health systems question the value of continuing in the lab
Pathologists Have Their ‘Carpe Diem’ Opportunity!
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, leaders and forward-thinkers in the pathology profession bemoaned the fact that lab tests and anatomic pathology services were priced as commodities. From the podiums of various lab and healthcare conferences, they urged their peers to identify, document, and educate health insurers and others about the true value of lab tests.
All
CMS physician fee schedule: Will hospital labs be excluded again from PAMA price reporting?
By maryv
CEO SUMMARY: Publication of the draft CMS Physician Fee Schedule on July 12 brought unwelcome news for the clinical lab industry, at least as it pertains to that perennial question: Should hospital lab outreach data be included in a PAMA market study? The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must conduct a new market