Recently Laboratory Corporation of America recruited and rehired three DIANON sales reps who had left the company following its acquisition by LabCorp earlier this year. On its second quarter conference call, LabCorp officials, under criticism for numerous departures of DIANON sales stars following the acquisition, pointedly noted that three of the ex-DIANON sales reps had “come back” to LabCorp. However, there’s more to the story. THE DARK REPORT has learned, from multiple sources that LabCorp offered these three individuals promotions and compensation packages of a surprisingly sizeable amount. It appears that LabCorp paid a substantial price to woo back these three sales reps.
One of the nation’s largest private laboratory companies still focused almost exclusively on physicians’ office testing is expanding into new geography. Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL) the $100+ million firm based in Austin, Texas, has acquired a small lab company in Northern Virginia and will use it as a base to expand in that region.
DOC INCENTIVE PROGRAM ACTIVE IN BOSTON AREA
Bridges to Excellence, a consortium of large employers, area payers, physicians, and other healthcare entities is several months into a pilot program that will potentially reward top-performing physicians with additional reimbursement. The program focuses on chronic diseases. To calculate the incentive pool, payers calculated how much money they would save if care improved. For example, actuarial analysis estimates the program will save $350 per diabetic patient per year. Employers such as Ford Motor Company, Procter & Gamble, and UPS have committed to pay physicians with the best outcomes a bonus of up to $100 per diabetic patient. The goal is to give physicians and healthcare providers a direct financial incentive for actively improving the healthcare outcomes for patients they treat. Top-performing physicians will also be highlighted in the provider directories published by Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and other participating health plans.
ADD TO: Doc Incentive
These types of incentive pro- grams will impact pathologists and lab administrators in two ways. First, clinicians will want a higher level of lab testing services as one tool to help them achieve improved healthcare outcomes. Second, at some point pathologists themselves will be able to participate in these types of incentive programs.
LAB ADMINISTRATOR LIVES DOUBLE LIFE
Even as Dixie McFadden, Administrative Director of Laboratories, was dealing with the challenges of ISO-9000 certification and the design and construction of a new automated regional laboratory facility for Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon (see pages 9- 14), she was in nightly training for her passion: country dance competition. The effort paid off. This May, McFadden earned “First Place Overall” in the Pro-Am Classic Female Silver Novice category at the Country Dance Competition in Fresno, California. McFadden also competes internationally, recently placing 11th in the CW World’s competition in Nashville, Tennessee.
