Oct 22, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Pathologists and medical laboratory managers should be alert to compliance changes
CLIA inspections of medical laboratories may be getting more rigorous in certain areas of laboratory operations, according to anecdotal information emerging from the field. Clinical laboratory management consulting firms report that they are experiencing an increased number requests for help from hospitals following a recent CLIA inspection of their laboratories.
Laboratory management consultants tell Dark Daily that, for the most part, well-run medical laboratories are having few problems when CLIA inspectors show up on site. Because these laboratories are diligent about compliance with legal requirements, the CLIA inspection seldom turns up a serious deficiency nor identifies a major compliance failure within the laboratory.
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Oct 7, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Lab Manager Training will take place in Baltimore, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami
Very shortly, the lack of experienced and competent laboratory managers will become the next intractable staffing problem for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Most medical laboratories—already struggling to find adequate numbers of medical technologists (MT) and clinical laboratory scientists (CLS)—will find themselves with an even more acute shortage of skilled managers at every level, from bench supervision to senior laboratory leadership.
Clinical lab managers about to retire in waves
Simply said, the nation’s laboratory leaders are about to experience a demographic time bomb that will rapidly decimate all levels of lab managers in their clinical pathology laboratories. Few medical laboratory organizations are prepared to respond effectively to the predicted rapid turnover among their most experienced and skilled lab managers.
Of course, the demographic time bomb refers to the coming tidal wave of baby boomer retirements. As a reminder, on January 1, 2011—just 85 days away—the oldest baby boomer turns 65 and becomes eligible for social security and Medicare benefits!
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Sep 29, 2010 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Pathology
Ex-employee of Quest Diagnostics allegedly also breached patient privacy laws
By manufacturing a fake positive clinical pathology laboratory test report for a sexually transmitted disease (STD), a medical laboratory manager in Alton, Illinois, set in motion a series of events that made headlines in St. Louis-area newspapers earlier this year. These actions also generated a lawsuit against clinical laboratory manager Maureen Sackmann and her then-employer, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX).
The story is worthy of the best television soap opera plot—and has plenty of cautionary lessons for all clinical laboratory managers and pathologists. Press accounts of the episode indicate that, while working for Quest Diagnostics in Alton, Illinois, Sackmann noticed that a laboratory test report had been generated for a woman (identified only as Jane Doe) who was dating her ex-boyfriend.
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Sep 9, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Special clinical laboratory manager training to take place in four cities this fall
Predictions are that clinical laboratories and pathology groups across the nation will face a growing and serious shortage of skilled managers during the next 24 months. There are two primary reasons why this acute shortage of capable lab managers is soon to develop.
First, the oldest baby boomers turn 65 in January and the long-awaited wave of retirements will begin. This means the most experienced staff members in the medical laboratory—managers at the bench level, the section, and the department—will vacate those positions of responsibility. As these managers depart, the lab loses their decades of experience, along with their invaluable organizational knowledge.
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Aug 4, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Small employers begin dropping private health coverage and pay penalty to state
Massachusetts’s health reform program—touted as a model that incorporates many features of the new federal health legislation—continues be generate controversy. Despite its success in expanding the number of state residents who now have health insurance, year-over-year cost increases are exceeding the projections used by the legislature and governor when the bill was passed in 2006.
For pathologists and clinical laboratory managers, the outcome of the Bay State’s effort to introduce a form of universal healthcare coverage bears watching. That’s because many elements of the Obamacare bill passed by Congress earlier this year are similar to the Massachusetts health reform program.
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