Feb 27, 2017 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
The DxMA Summit’s agenda will complement EWC’s and will explore disruptive technologies likely to be of great interest to medical laboratory leaders and pathology groups
Cybersecurity, wearable technology, and social media are the primary trends facing in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers and clinical laboratories.
That’s according to Debra Harrsch, President-elect of the Diagnostics Marketing Association (DxMA), a self-funded organization devoted to helping diagnostic marketing professionals stay abreast of industry trends and effectively navigate the changing legal, regulatory, and technology landscape.
DxMA will be holding its annual Global Marketing Summit April 30-May 1 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel on Canal Street. Coincidentally, the 2017 Executive War College (EWC) will takes place in the same venue, May 2-3, directly following the DxMA summit. (more…)
Feb 20, 2017 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers may be overlooking ways that sales teams can add strategic value
As of January 1, 2018, the value of a top-performing clinical laboratory sales professional will increase because, on that date, labs will see a reduction in Medicare Part B clinical laboratory test prices as mandated by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014.
As these Medicare price cuts become effective, clinical laboratories and hospital lab outreach programs across the United States will need their lab sales representatives to bring in new client accounts that can generate additional revenue to offset the decrease in Medicare lab test reimbursements.
It was to recognize these laboratory sales professionals that The Dark Report organized the National Lab Sales Excellence Award in 2016. These new national sales awards were unveiled at the Executive War College (EWC) in New Orleans on April 26-27, 2016, and will return again at the 2017 EWC May 2-3. (more…)
Feb 6, 2017 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
As chronic disease and aging populations strain the UK’s medical systems, staffing shortages at pathology laboratories contribute to lengthening delays of critical diagnostic services
In the United Kingdom (UK), pathologists and other physicians are going public with their concerns that a growing shortage of pathologists and medical laboratory scientists will soon contribute to delays in performing the lab tests needed to diagnose patients—particularly those with cancer—and identify which therapies will work best for them.
Thanks to vast improvements to both medical laboratory capabilities and treatment options, the cancer survival rate in the UK doubled over the past four decades. However, early diagnosis is a critical component to a successful outcome. As further strain is placed on medical laboratories and diagnostic providers, wait times continue to increase beyond the thresholds created by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
Worsening an already dire situation, a November 2016 report from Cancer Research UK, “Testing Times to Come? An Evaluation of Pathology Capacity Across the UK,” predicts a critical shortage in laboratory staffing within the next decade. Data on Provider-based Cancer Waiting Times for August 2016 from National Health Service England shows that 17.2% of patients with an urgent referral for suspected cancer fail to start treatment within two months of the referral. (more…)
Jan 16, 2017 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
15th Annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM) takes place in Birmingham, England, on January 31–February 1, 2017, and features pathology experts from UK, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Serbia, Canada, and the USA
Recent innovations in medical laboratory management and operations in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) will be the subject of a major conference that takes place on January 31 through February 1, 2017, in Birmingham, England. It is the 15th annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM).
“Medical laboratories throughout Europe are confronted with multiple challenges,” stated Robert Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report and one of the conference organizers. “Funding for lab tests is shrinking, demand for lab tests is soaring, and many national health systems are taking forceful actions to consolidate labs into regional networks. All of these topics will be discussed at FiLM.” (more…)
Nov 9, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Many pathologists and other physicians are accelerating their retirement plans as they become familiar with how MACRA, MIPS, and ADM will change the way the Medicare Program pays for physician professional services
Will Medicare’s make-over to how it pays physicians accelerate the retirement of more doctors—including pathologists? That’s the question many experts are asking as the nation’s physicians learn more about the rule to implement the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), with its Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) programs.
With the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expected this fall to finalize changes in how physicians—including pathologists—get paid for Medicare services, it appears many physicians are considering retirement, rather than contend with Quality Payment Program (QPP) rules for a new value-based reimbursement system and other healthcare reforms.
The Physicians Foundation’s latest biennial survey, “2016 Survey of America’s Physicians: Practice Patterns and Perspectives,” indicated that 46.8% of physicians plan to “accelerate” their retirement plans due to changes taking place in healthcare. That number rises to 50% among doctors age 46 and older, and to 54.2% among physicians who own their own practices. (more…)
Oct 24, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Early results are promising and this technology could lead to a clinical laboratory test that would give microbiologists and pathologists a new tool for helping diagnose infections
Infectious disease physicians and clinical laboratory scientists will be interested to learn that researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine recently developed a new blood test that can identify whether the source of an infection is bacterial or viral.
These findings were published in Science Translational Medicine in July. The paper was authored by Stanford staff members Timothy Sweeney, MD, PhD, and Purvesh Khatri, PhD, Assistant Professor (Research) of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics Research-ITI Institute) and of Biomedical Data Science. Hector Wong, MD, of the University of Cincinnati was the third co-author of the study.
These findings are timely because, starting on January 1, 2017, hospitals and health systems will need to implement more rigorous antimicrobial stewardship programs to comply with new requirements of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission (TJC). A clinical laboratory test that makes it easier to determine whether the cause of an infection is bacterial or viral would be a welcome tool for physicians, pharmacists, pathologists, and microbiologists involved in a hospital’s infection control program. (more…)
