News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

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News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives: How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance and Transformed the Approach to Improving Laboratory Operations

Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives: How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance and Transformed the Approach to Improving Laboratory Operations

 

Now more than ever beforWhite Paper - Translating Clinical Lab Science into Business Objectivese, clinical labs are under pressure to operate efficiently, accurately, and timely, all while still making money. Doctors and patients have come to expect a 24-hour turnaround for most tests. Clinical labs throughout the United States have been slashing budgets, many literally to the point of no return. At least 13 public health labs in four states have shuttered since 2003, which posed a serious problem when COVID-19 hit because resources did not meet demand.

Labs still in business know the challenges of maintaining budgets while operating at capacity and could list the obstacles categorically: Issues related to equipment, staffing, data management, and workflow are well known, from the techs and managers in the lab all the way up the administrative chain to the finance managers and business improvement teams. Cost containment is on the lips of nearly everyone, but not at the expense of quality, turnaround time, flexibility, and accuracy.

To benefit the bottom line, laboratory professionals are looking for ways to improve overall operations, whether they think every area is running as smoothly as possible or whether they’ve already diagnosed a weakness in their processes. But where do clinical lab pros like you begin? How do you perform diagnostics of their own systems? Benchmarks can be deceiving.

This timely white paper considers how using an educational program, developed for laboratory technologists, managers, pathologists, finance managers, business improvement teams—even learning and development managers—can help medical labs measure systems and practices, identify problems, correct those problems, and ultimately boost overall operations. By following a specific process covered in this paper, you can strengthen your lab’s overall performances and improve its bottom line.

 

Find these, and many more indispensable insights in this White Paper:

  • Identify problems—some of them completely hidden even when a lab seems like it is running efficiently and smoothly—to avoid medical errors that result from breakdowns in operations
  • Understand your lab’s business as well as you understand a petri dish, as financial belts are tightened and you continue to be asked to look for efficiencies to drive cost containment
  • How an educational program to help lab staff and management become proficient in the concepts necessary to improve laboratory processes can help stakeholders understand ways in which lab resourcing and process design affects its clinical and financial performance
  • Learn how one pathology manager reduced his lab’s turnaround time from over 3 hours to less than 2 hours, as well as reducing plastic waste and therefore laboratory waste-handling costs, among other improvements

 


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Realizing Operational Weaknesses in the Clinical Laboratory and Mapping a Way Through

Chapter 2:
Need for Business Knowledge Presents Unexpected Learning Curve for Rising and Seasoned Medical Laboratory Leaders

Chapter 3:
How an Educational Program Measured and Analyzed Performance to Improve Clinical Laboratory Operations

CONCLUSION

Science has always been the paramount focus of laboratory managers, but that is no longer sufficient. This in-depth white paper will show you how to equip your clinical laboratory staff and business administrators with the skills necessary to evaluate, measure and analyze in a way that can improve lab operations and practices, and improving the bottom line.

Investing in educational courses can prove beneficial your clinical lab, regardless of whether you are evaluating possible changes, want to diagnose areas of weakness,  have new or inexperienced leadership, are seeking ways to contain costs, or wanting to improve virtually every aspect of your laboratory operations.

Learn what you need to know about this innovative trend by downloading your FREE copy of Translating Clinical Laboratory Science Into Business Objectives” below.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Risk Management Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvement – 3 High-Risk Medical Courier Support Services

Risk Management
Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvement – 3 High-Risk Medical Courier Support Services

dark daily risk management white paper

 

The complexity of medical laboratory specimen sample management requires a highly sophisticated system of monitors, controls, and useful reports to meet lab and hospital accreditation requirements, prevent errors that can lead to costly quality failures, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.

When a lab test is ordered, it launches a complicated process that requires technical and healthcare expertise, proper specimen collection and transport, and effective logistics and communication. Dark Daily is pleased to offer a new FREE White Paper in partnership with Lab Logistics, addressing value and quality issues—and solutions—related to medical laboratory specimen management and logistics.

 

This FREE White Paper will provide:

  • A framework for evaluating your clinical or anatomic pathology laboratory specimen processes
  • An overview citing examples of cost savings and improved operations related to logistics and supply
  • Examples of how other hospital and health systems laboratories approached making changes, and implemented effective solutions
  • And much more!


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Improving Sample Management and Logistics in the Clinical and Anatomic Pathology Laboratory

Chapter 2:
Evaluating Laboratory Specimen Management Processes Considering 3 High-Risk Support Areas

Section 1: Handling and Tracking of Laboratory Specimen Samples

Section 2: Confirming Medical Security, Chain of Custody, and Transit Tracking

Section 3: Coordinating Test Kits, Supplies, Reagents, Lab Equipment, and Instruments

Section 4: Approaching a Medical Courier Service Conversion

Initiative 1: Constitution Diagnostics Network

Initiative 2: Ochsner Health System

Initiative 3: Hospital System Acquisition

Chapter 3:
Minimizing Disruptions Through Specialized Specimen Management, Supply, Logistics Communication and Reporting

CONCLUSION

Clinical and pathology laboratory specimen management functions are sometimes plumbed together with different products from different vendors, with little integration of primary logistical functions. Efficient specimen management requires adequate software or middleware to integrate financial and insurance information.

Outsourcing logistics and courier services in some situations allows labs to stay focused on their core strengths. These are the same strengths that maintain high quality patient care, assure accreditation standards, and prevent errors that can lead to quality failures.

As a member of your laboratory’s leadership team, learn what you need to know as a competitive laboratory to maximize efficiency, increase profitability, and decrease costs over the long run by leveraging effective medical courier services and those that utilize digital technologies.

Download your FREE copy of Specimen Management and Logistics Issues to Evaluate for Continuous Quality Improvementbelow!

 

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Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory

Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory

Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital LaboratoryThe menu of diagnostics, medications, and treatments available to us as healthcare providers is continually expanding. This creates more choices and decisions for the entire staff—from practitioners, to laboratory technicians, to IT personnel. Electronic health records (EHRs), originally intended to organize options and lighten information overload for both patient and provider, have evolved into sophisticated multi-featured tools, supported by entire departments and strongly impacting (if not actually driving) clinician workflows.

At the intersection of the EHR and provider choice lies clinical decision support (CDS). The benefits of clinical decision support are particularly important for clinical laboratories, given the lab’s central role in most diagnoses and treatments. By harnessing evidence-based guidelines to optimize test utilization, laboratories can reduce costs and strengthen care. Labs using evidence-based CDS are also better positioned to manage financial risk in a value-based environment.

To assist clinical laboratories in understanding the requirements and risks involved when implementing a CDS system, DARK Daily is pleased to offer this FREE White Paper—“Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory”—the second publication of a three-part White Paper series developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Change Healthcare.

Providing valuable industry perspective, commentary, and insights on the role of decision support in building an effective laboratory stewardship program, this White Paper series also highlights case-study proof points developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic from early-adopter hospital laboratories—points that have successfully implemented third-party decision support to their value advantage.

Find these, and many more indispensable perspectives in this White Paper:

  • Gain insights into why the adoption of evidence-based clinical decision support has become increasingly essential to your laboratory’s success in today’s value-based environment
  • Understand the advantages of pursuing decision support solutions developed specifically for the clinical laboratory environment, and the challenges of developing your own CDS system from scratch
  • Looking for the right fit, and evaluating your lab’s requirements when researching a laboratory decision support system that’s the right fit for your organization
  • Choosing the laboratory decision support solution for your lab that demonstrates an infrastructure that will be effective and sustainable into the future
  • Learn why unless powerful analytics are developed to work in conjunction with your decision support system’s performance data, your platform’s value will be limited


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1:
Understanding Clinical Laboratory Stewardship and Clinical Decision Support in the New Value-Based Environment

Chapter 2:
Critical Factors for Determining Whether to Buy or Build Decision Support for the Hospital Laboratory

Chapter 3:
Monitoring and Measuring Laboratory Test Utilization: The Ongoing Tasks Required of an Effective Clinical Decision Support Platform

CONCLUSION

This white paper—part 2 of a three-part series— provides practical pearls on how a proven decision support solution and one that is a good fit for your lab can be the foundation of an effective laboratory stewardship program, and can greatly assist in controlling utilization and meeting the challenges of value-based care. As well, the paper also clearly explains the points for “buy versus build” laboratory decision support.

Choosing the right decision support solution will empower your lab and hospital leaders, clinicians, and staff with more time to focus their core competencies on the provision of healthcare. Learn what you need to know by downloading your FREE copy of “Critical Factors for Launching a Clinical Decision Support System in the Hospital Laboratory” below.

Also available: the first publication in this three-part White Paper series, “Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence.” Download it here.


Produced in partnership with:

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Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now

Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now

anatomic-pathology-white-paper-dark-dailyAnatomic pathology laboratories are struggling to remain profitable as they grapple with increasing workloads amid sweeping reimbursement cuts. The traditional pathology business model hangs in the balance, with some labs operating at such a thin margin that it may only take one severe adverse event to put them out of business.

Digital pathology is one wide-ranging solution that’s tackling these systemic challenges. Driven by recent technological and regulatory approvals, leading academic and commercial laboratories are increasingly going digital to overcome significant gaps in efficiency and diagnostic accuracy. These same labs are implementing computational applications that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to expand on the productivity, quality, and confidence gains they’ve already realized.

As a laboratory professional, you may recognize that the time to go digital is now. DARK Daily is pleased to offer this FREE white paper — “Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now — that provides evidence to justify your decision to go digital, as well as key insights and best practices that can help your lab make the shift successfully.

Download the White Paper now to get a synopsis of recent research and real-world cases that demonstrate the economic and scientific necessity of adopting digital pathology platforms and AI applications. Gather perspective from in-depth interviews with industry-leading labs that lay out the benefits they themselves gained from going digital.

 

 

This White Paper includes all this, and much more:

  • Learn detailed examples of how AI-enabled digital pathology drives diagnostic confidence, increased productivity, and cost savings
  • Benefit from insights and best practices shared by digital pathology pioneers including Zoltan Laszik, MD, PhD, Professor of Clinical Pathology, UCSF; Nicolas Cacciabeve, MD, Managing Partner, Advanced Pathology Associates; Kiran Motaparthi, MD, Program Director, Department of Dermatology, University of Florida; and Anthony Magliocco, MD, President and CEO, Protean BioDiagnostics
  • Enhance your perspective on how AI-powered digital pathology systems will drive the future of diagnostics and empower precision medicine
  • Get key takeaways from leading-institution case studies including University of Florida, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Granada University Hospitals


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Digital Pathology Pioneers Prove Its Success and Long-Term Viability

Chapter 2: How AI Applications are Already Revolutionizing Cancer Diagnostics and Research Today

Chapter 3: Digital Pathology and AI in Practice: What’s Next?

CONCLUSION

Get the facts your laboratory needs when considering digital pathology, and how it’s possible to join other laboratories that are realizing 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains since adopting this technology.

Learn more by downloading your FREE copy of Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now now.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence

Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence

Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence

Powerful forces are reshaping the clinical laboratory industry, making 2020 a critical year as hospitals determine whether retaining the laboratory in-house or selling it is the better path.

Mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, along with the development of new testing technologies are but a few of the factors that have changed the profile of the medical laboratory footprint across the U.S. And now, downward reimbursement reform combined with impending integration of clinical care, promise to again challenge the traditional laboratory service model in significant ways beyond 2020.

As a clinical laboratory leader, it is important for you to understand why selling the laboratory will not solve core problems like overutilization, low-value testing, inappropriate use of high-cost testing, and provider confusion over best test choice which can lead to irrelevant results and the need for a repeat study. Rather, when you take action to build value within your lab, the result is to sell significant change to the organization in the form of a reinvented, reinvigorated, test-optimized lab.

To assist clinical labs and their leaders in rationalizing the laboratory’s value and relevance in ways that support lab value plus appropriate and high-quality patient care, fiscal strength, and program integrity for payers, DARK Daily is pleased to offer this FREE White Paper—“Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independence”—the first publication of a three-part White Paper series developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Change Healthcare.

Providing rich industry perspective, commentary, and insights on the use and value of decision support in building an effective laboratory stewardship program, the paper also highlights case-study proof points developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic from early-adopter hospital laboratories—points that have successfully implemented third-party decision support to their value advantage.

 


This White Paper provides a concise discussion regarding:

  • Why establishing the relevance of the clinical laboratory is more important than ever before, especially with the integration of care delivery and the shift away from fee-for-service payments
  • How retaining the clinical lab and committing to effective stewardship through better laboratory test utilization can positively impact not only clinical outcomes and financial performance, but also the viability of the organization as a whole
  • Learn the three evidence-based categories of good stewardship—and the three critical stewardship functions you should integrate into your lab operations plan
  • Address clinical laboratory waste through stewardship: four core test utilization patterns to monitor in order to identify gaps in care, and to develop your own specific strategies to manage overall test utilization
  • Gain insights into stewardship strategies that have worked for other laboratories, and how they have been able to reduce per-patient per-day tests, manage inappropriate test ordering, more effectively utilize and redirect lab staff, and much more!


Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Industry Update: Commoditization of Common Tests Puts Clinical Laboratories
Under Pressure to Validate Value

Chapter 2: Critical Factors That Make Stewardship Work Toward Clinical Laboratory Value
and Value-Based Initiatives

Chapter 3: Addressing Clinical Laboratory Waste Through Stewardship: 4 Core Categories and Early Results

CONCLUSION

 

Increasing the clinical laboratory’s value to a hospital organization does not begin by reducing or selling the lab. Armed with the knowledge within this White Paper, you’ll learn how you can effectively transform your lab into a strategic unit that drives clinical and financial value for itself and for the organization it serves.

Learn more by downloading your FREE copy of “Clinical Laboratories Under Pressure: Exploring Options to Re-establish Critical Relevancy and Maintain Independencenow.


Produced in partnership with:

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Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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Clinical Laboratory Information System Implementation Brief: What You Need to Know About LIS Installations, Conversions, and Interface Projects

Clinical Laboratory Information System Implementation Brief: What You Need to Know About LIS Installations, Conversions, and Interface Projects

Clinical Laboratory System Implementation BriefA recent LIS market report shows that demand for a modern LIS is driven by a number of factors: acceleration of laboratory automation, the need for improved lab efficiency, advances in integrated functionality, importance of compliance with regulatory requirements, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.

Indeed, because all laboratories are now routinely being asked to do more with less, these and numerous other urgent reasons are compelling independent and hospital laboratories to invest resources in a major laboratory information implementation or upgrade.

Dark Daily is pleased to offer a new FREE White Paper providing practical insights and indispensable how-to’s regarding the enormous challenges associated with installing, converting, and interfacing a laboratory information system. This paper, written by an expert who has experienced (and overcome) these challenges, outlines for you a multi-step plan for bringing your laboratory team together toward the common goal of a modern LIS, thus expanding your lab’s capabilities, ensuring efficient operations, and yielding quality improvement.

 


This White Paper specifically addresses:

  • Questions to ask when researching a laboratory information system
  • Finding the right project manager who will mesh well with your laboratory and put into place the steps necessary to make your LIS installation or conversion a success
  • Building a realistic budget for your project, including important considerations not directly related to your implementation
  • Events important to include in your project plan that are often overlooked
  • Reasons, many not obvious, for eliminating as many variables, non-essential tasks, and complicated workflows as possible—pre go-live
  • And much more!


Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Components of a Clinical Laboratory Information System Implementation

             Phase 1: Project Initiation, LIS Preparation, Gap Analysis, and New Software

             Phase 2: Installing the Laboratory Information System, Configuration, Data, Interfaces

PART 2: Critical LIS Testing and Parallels: Can We Achieve a ‘Non-Event’ at LIVE?

             Phase 3: Laboratory Information System Testing and Training

             Phase 4: Laboratory Information System LIVE and Support

Key Takeaways

The right LIS is key to your laboratory’s quality operations. And when it comes to LIS installations, conversions, and interface projects, there are a multitude of issues to consider. Achieving the successful implementation will not only streamline your laboratory processes, it will also provide the added benefits of improved staff morale and stronger relationships with your clients and investors.

As a member of your laboratory’s leadership team, learn what you need to know during every phase of LIS change —download your FREE copy of Clinical Laboratory Information System Implementation Briefbelow!

Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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