Oct 6, 2014 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The challenge facing medical lab managers and pathologists is to intelligently cut costs in their labs without laying off med techs, histotechs, and other lab scientists
By any measure, this year’s budget season is a tough one for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Most labs are scrambling to adjust to reduced reimbursement and directives from their parent hospitals and health systems to shrink their lab budgets for 2015.
It’s why smart cost-cutting tops the list of challenges at all medical laboratory managers and pathologists. Lab leaders need effective approaches to trim spending in their lab without the need to lay off skilled medical technologists and other experienced lab scientists. (more…)
Aug 21, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
Many hospital outreach lab programs are dealing with the double whammy of successive reductions in Medicare Part B Clinical Laboratory Test fees and a shrinking budget by their parent hospitals
Over the past 24 months, all the painful cuts to lab test prices have made depressing news. These decreases in the prices paid to clinical laboratories by the Medicare program and major private health insurers mean that labs in 2014 will have significantly less revenue, even as the volume of specimens to be tested increases.
The logical response by many medical laboratory organizations has been to take active steps to decrease expenses. In fact, the price and revenue erosion experienced by labs of all sizes and types over the past two years is the reason why cutting unnecessary costs is now a primary management goal at clinical laboratories throughout the United States. (more…)
Sep 17, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Lean Six Sigma and other methods helping laboratories cut costs and boost quality
“Cash is King!” aptly describes how most clinical labs and pathology groups are working to squeeze additional cost savings from operations during the final months of 2009. In fact, with a full quarter left in the year, nimble lab executives and managers still have plenty of remaining time to implement cost-saving initiatives that can produce savings of several tens of thousands of dollars less than budgeted spending before December 31, 2009.
That makes it perfect that the 3rd annual Lab Quality Confab on Quality Management in Diagnostic Medicine takes place on September 29-30, 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. For lab managers serious about producing substantial results during the fourth quarter of 2009, the Confab is the ultimate one-stop resource for Lean, Six Sigma, ISO, and all the tools and tricks of rapid process improvement (RPI).
(more…)
Mar 20, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Government efforts to reduce funding for lab tests may boomerang in coming years
Dateline: Christchurch, New Zealand-Here in the land of kiwis and enthusiastic rugby fans, pathology and laboratory services don’t seem to get much respect from regional health districts of the New Zealand Department of Health. There are fears that too much of this type of budget cutting will undermine the quality of laboratory testing in those communities.
In at least two major metropolitan regions of New Zealand, the regional health districts are using single-source tenders (contract bidding) for pathology and laboratory testing services as a way to drive down the price they pay for laboratory testing. One consequence of these tender efforts is an immediate reduction in the number of private pathology testing providers in these cities, since just one medical laboratory is granted an exclusive, multi-year contract to provide laboratory testing services to office-based physicians across that region.
(more…)
