Globalization of laboratory medicine continues to move forward. Two recent examples illustrate this trend. Earlier this month, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Citizens Hospital of Hyderabad, India, to form a clinical pathology laboratory in that city. The laboratory will be located on the hospital’s campus and will operate under the name “AmPath.” AmPath intends to earn local accreditation from the National Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and international accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Separately, PEPFAR (U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) has donated a new clinical laboratory facility to the Ghana Armed Forces in Takoradi, Ghana, Africa.
ADD TO: Global Labs
The new lab was built by the U.S. Department of Defense and is designed to support “military-specific HIV prevention, care and treatment programs, including HIV testing and counseling; diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections; and screening for tuberculosis in Ghana.”
Pathologist to Edit Next Cancer Staging Manual
Editor-in-Chief of the upcoming eighth edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual will be Mahul B. Amin, M.D., FCAP, who is Chairman, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Traditionally, editorship of this manual is the domain of oncologists and surgeons. The appointment of Dr. Amin reflects the central position of pathology in the care of cancer, including use of molecular diagnostics and genetic testing in diagnosis, treatment, and patient monitoring for various cancers. Publication of the eighth edition of the manual is scheduled to be in 2015.
TRANSITIONS
- Deena M. Murphy joined Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, LLC, as Senior Billing Director. She formerly worked for Quest Diagnostics Incorporated.
- Lewis Custer was appointed to the position of Senior Vice President, Operations, at National Medical Billing Services. Custer has held positions with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and United Healthcare’s Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., business division.
Dark Daily Update
Have you caught the latest e-briefings from DARK Daily? If so, then you’d know about…
the detailed exposé published by Time Magazine and written by Steve Brill on how hospitals charge uninsured patients exorbitant charge-master prices. Brill provided an example of a $132,000 charge for lab tests during one hospital stay for a patient.
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