Implications of Academia’s Early Adoption of Whole Slide Scanning and Digital Pathology Systems

May 4, 2023 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Resources, Webinars

Understanding requirements of digital pathology workflow matters as regulatory and reimbursement elements align toward wider adoption beyond 2023. Upcoming Dark Daily webinar May 10 to cover infrastructure requirements Nearly all pathology residents and fellows, as well as many histologists and other medical students, have been trained using digital images and, therefore, digital pathology tools. This resounds as a major and important development now working in tandem with recent coding...

Proven Approaches to Clinical Laboratory Cost-Cutting and Effective Staff Recruitment/Retention to Be Shared at New Workshops in Chicago and Miami

Sep 25, 2022 | Clinical Laboratory/Pathology Management Recruiters & Staffing Resources, Clinical Laboratory/Pathology Sales Training and Mentoring, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Conferences

Answers and effective solutions to the lab profession’s most urgent challenges will be front and center at the innovative ‘Lab Management Essentials Workshop’ Three powerful forces are slamming clinical laboratories today. One is the urgent need to cut costs. Second is the struggle to achieve and maintain full lab staffing. Third is the pressure to increase revenue and expand market share. All of this is happening even as hospitals and health systems must deal with almost identical issues....

Post-Pandemic Strategies for Labs Include OIG Audit Prep and Repurposed Instruments

Mar 27, 2022 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Conferences, Webinars

Some lab experts advise that clinical laboratories and pathology practices should also plan on delayed payments for COVID-19 testing for uninsured patients Regardless of whether infection rates for SARS-CoV-2 continue to wane or perhaps surge again, business changes are coming for staff at clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. Forward-thinking lab administrators will want to evaluate post-pandemic strategies for labs to stay ahead of potential legal issues and keep their...

EKRA Now Used to Combat Fraudulent COVID-19 Testing, Too

Mar 8, 2022 | Clinical Laboratory/ Pathology Coding, Billing, and Collection Resources, Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing, News From Dark Daily, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Conferences

The Department of Justice steps beyond the law’s original focus on opioid-related lab testing fraud An interesting aspect with enforcement of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA) is the government’s willingness to go after charges tied to fraudulent COVID-19 testing.  The case U.S. vs. Malena Badon Lepetich provides a good example of this approach. A grand jury indicted Lepetich on various healthcare fraud charges last year, including that she allegedly offered to pay...

Attention All Surgical Pathologists: Algorithms for Automated Primary Diagnosis of Digital Pathology Images Likely to Gain Regulatory Clearance in Near Future

Jun 14, 2021 | Clinical Laboratory Middleware, Informatics, Analytics, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, International Laboratory News, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Hello primary diagnosis of digital pathology images via artificial intelligence! Goodbye light microscopes! Digital pathology is poised to take a great leap forward. Within as few as 12 months, image analysis algorithms may gain regulatory clearance in the United States for use in primary diagnosis of whole-slide images (WSIs) for certain types of cancer. Such a development will be a true revolution in surgical pathology and would signal the beginning of the end of the light microscope era. A...

Ransomware Attacks on Scripps Health, Universal, and Utah Pathology Services Show Hospitals and Health Systems Are Increasingly in the Crosshairs

Jun 11, 2021 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily

Recent attacks illustrate how costly a security breach can be and why clinical laboratories and pathology groups must work to protect their information systems from ransomware attacks Recent ransomware attacks on Scripps Health, Universal Health Services, and Utah Pathology Services clearly illuminate the vulnerabilities within the healthcare industry to being targeted. These attacks left patients’ protected health information (PHI) exposed and the healthcare organizations open to federal...