Aug 17, 2015 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
By placing this low-cost, disposable device developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on their arms or abdomens, patients can collect their own blood at home in minutes
For more than two years, the nation’s media have been captivated by Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes’ vision of offering patients who need blood tests a finger stick collection instead of a venipuncture. Meanwhile, in research labs across the nation, there are credible efforts to develop ways to collect medical laboratory test specimens that require no needles at all.
On such effort may soon enter the market. It is an innovative, needleless blood-collection device called HemoLink developed by a research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Users simply place a device with the diameter of a golf ball against their arms or abdomens for two minutes. During that time, the device draws blood from capillaries into a small container. Patients would then mail the tube of collected blood to a medical laboratory for analysis.
This non-threatening device is ideal for children. However, patients who require recurrent blood tests to monitor health conditions would also benefit, as it would save them frequent trips to clinical laboratories for blood draws using traditional needle-stick methods. (more…)
Dec 3, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Laboratory Testing
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco revealed that the cost for a simple cholesterol test ranged from as little as $10 to as much as $10,169!
Clinical laboratories owned by hospitals and health systems should take note of a public study of hospital laboratory test prices that was conducted by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). It was published this summer and showed a remarkable range of prices for medical laboratory tests charged by California hospitals.
How about a charge of $10,169 for a routine blood cholesterol test? This was one finding a study discussed in the August 2014 issue of the British Medical Journal Open blog. The study was led by Renee Hsia, M.D.. She is an associate professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy at the UCSF Medical School. Hsia and her colleagues compared charges for 10 common clinical laboratory tests that were reported in 2011 by all non-federal California hospitals. (more…)
Jul 2, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Exogen uses crowdfunding to both collect needed specimens and raise capital to pursue FDA clearance for its proposed medical laboratory test that would identify an individual’s damaged DNA
It might be coming soon to a pharmacy or other retail store near you: a medical laboratory test kit allows consumers to test themselves for damaged DNA. This bold new world for genetic testing is the vision of a new company in San Francisco called Exogen Biotechnology.
This startup business was co-founded by Sylvain Costes, Ph.D., a nuclear engineer who serves as Exogen’s Chief Executive Officer, and Jonathan Tang, Ph.D., a bioengineer. Their team is developing a blood test that will enable consumers to monitor their own DNA damage and take actions to reverse the damage. (more…)
Jun 9, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The device would save patients frequent trips to a hospital medical laboratory and automatically transmit coag test results to attending physicians
Researchers in Switzerland are putting coagulation testing together with a smartphone specifically to allow patients to do home self-testing. This is another example of how technology is getting closer to moving medical laboratory tests out of the core lab and into near-patient settings.
This groundbreaking work is being done by researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology]. They want to develop a smartphone device that enables patients to monitor their own anticoagulation therapy at home, according to a report published by Fiercemobilehealthcare.com. (more…)
Oct 18, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The science behind the device is an innovative detection assay of dyes that stain leukocytes so they will fluoresce and enable differentiation of white blood cell subtypes
Over the last couple of years, medical laboratory technology developers have brought a number of FDA-approved point-of-care (POCT) and home self-tests to market.
These medical tests run the full spectrum. They include tests to detect HIV, malaria, pregnancy or male fertility, drug use or Hepatitis C. There are tests to monitor liver function, glucose in diabetics, cholesterol; and provide needle-free CBCs and genetic tests. (more…)
