VA Engages Private Sector Companies in Major Telehealth Initiative to Bring Critical Healthcare Services to Thousands of Veterans Living in Remote Areas

Apr 10, 2019 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

Walmart, T-Mobile, and Philips have partnered with the VA and will be providing key resources that could offer opportunities for local clinical laboratories In what may prove to be a useful innovation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is preparing a major expansion of its telehealth (aka, telemedicine) offerings. What adds interest to this effort is that veterans will be able to access telehealth services in such settings as selected posts run by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)...

What’s in the Name of a Clinical Laboratory Test? TRUU-Lab Initiative Strives to Make Test Names Easier for Doctors to Understand and Order

Apr 8, 2019 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

Different clinical labs use different names for the same medical laboratory test, causing confusion among doctors who order and interpret tests and adding risk to patient care Is there a common name for every unique medical laboratory test? Patients and consumers generally assume that to be so. But clinical pathologists, medical technologists, and other lab scientists know that different labs use different names for the same medical lab test and methodology. The lack of uniformity in how...

PAMA Price Reporting Update: Insights to Help Prepare to Meet the Requirement

Mar 28, 2019 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily

Prior (2018) price reporting cycle offers lessons that can help clinical laboratory benefit administrators and personnel take an informed approach to meeting the requirements of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) With the PAMA Private Payor Price Reporting period under way, some clinical laboratories may be grappling with questions about the new requirements. Under PAMA, applicable labs must report private payer data on selected Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Tests (CDLTs) to...

Medicare-for-All Bill Has Little Chance of Passage in Congress, Even as Universal Healthcare Debate Gains Momentum Among Democratic Presidential Hopefuls

Mar 27, 2019 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations

Massive government takeover of healthcare would create single-payer healthcare system, doing away with Medicare Advantage and individual choice All clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups have a strong interest in how any reform of US healthcare at the federal level might be accomplished. In that spirit, Dark Daily is providing a quick overview of the Medicare for All Act of 2019 (HR 1384). The name is misleading. The bill would actually end Medicare and all private health...

Mt. Sinai Hospital and Cactus Design Studio Create 8-Station Clinical/Research Laboratory to Assess Health and Prevent Disease

Mar 25, 2019 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations

Lab100 is designed to be easily upgraded with the latest medical laboratory technologies for tracking patients’ health metrics and risk for chronic diseases Mount Sinai Hospital and Cactus, a New York City-based design studio, are creating a hybrid clinical laboratory/research lab that uses the latest diagnostic technologies to assess peoples’ health, provide them with an overview of their current condition, and suggest lifestyle changes to prevent future diseases. Though still under...

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University Use AI and Human Gut Bacteria to Predict Age of Microbiome Hosts

Mar 22, 2019 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

Clinical laboratories could soon have new tests for determining how fast a patient’s digestive system is aging as part of a precision medicine treatment protocol When it comes to assessing human age and longevity, much research has focused on telomeres in recent years. Now clinical laboratory managers and pathologists will be interested to learn that provocative new research demonstrates that the human microbiome may also contain useful information about aging. Microbes that can be diagnostic...