Five Reasons Why Retail Clinics Are a “Game-Changing” Threat to Traditional Healthcare Providers That Could Strain Clinical Laboratories and Pathologists

Research conducted by Kalorama suggests the popularity of retail clinics represents a trend towards newer healthcare models that challenge existing models of care, and which could severely impact hospitals, clinical laboratories, and pathology groups In recent years, pathologists and medical laboratory managers have watched as retail clinics housed in drug and grocery stores became a go-to service for healthcare customers seeking relief from minor illnesses. However, to market research company...

As ICD-10 Implementation Approaches October 1 Deadline, Clinical Pathology Laboratories Wonder if Providers and Payers Will Make a Smooth Transition

Medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups could face payment delays if physicians fail to code lab test claims properly using ICD-10 codes Just weeks remain before the implementation to ICD-10 begins. This will be a delicate time for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, since labs must rely on physicians to provide accurate ICD codes that labs must submit on test claims in order to be reimbursed by payers. The much-delayed shift from ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnosis codes...

Experts Say Vendors Charge Excessive Fees to Interface EHRs with Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Other Providers, and Networks

Complaints are rolling in about the high-cost interface fees charged by EHR companies for federally mandated connections  It won’t surprise pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to learn that vendors of electronic health record (EHR) systems are milking physicians and other health-care providers with excessive fees above and beyond the EHR cost. Vendors are socking it to providers—including medical laboratories—in the pricing they charge to create the mandatory interfaces required for...

Physician Business Leader Predicts Healthcare’s Winners and Losers as More Organizations Take Steps to Become Patient-Centered Medical Homes

Growth in the number of medical homes could make winners of those pathology groups and medical laboratories that learn how to best meet the needs of these providers Physician executives at TransforMED, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, are blogging with their opinions about which providers will be winners and losers in healthcare. Although most pathologists may not agree with these opinions, there are useful insights to be gleaned from the reasoning behind...

IBM Watson Picks Advisory Board—but No Pathologist

Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists have an opportunity to expand the presence of laboratory medicine IBM (NYSE: IBM) recently issued a press release announcing its new Watson Healthcare Advisory Board (WHAB). The board is comprised of healthcare leaders with a broad range of research, medical and business expertise. Unfortunately, that expertise does not include pathology or specialists in laboratory medicine. “Watson represents a technology breakthrough that can help...
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