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

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Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes Through Collaboration with Life Sciences

Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes Through Collaboration with Life Sciences

Free White Paper - Repurposing your lab's leftover COVID-19 samples

FREE WHITE PAPER | 24 Pages Published May 26, 2021

Produced in Partnership With:

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The precipitous drop in COVID-19 testing leaves clinical lab leaders wondering, “What comes next?” So it’s time to pivot—again.

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, clinical labs faced a sudden halt in routine testing, and many were able to shift quickly to COVID-19 test offerings. Fast forward one year: with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, SARS-CoV-2 testing in clinical laboratories has rapidly declined. In the United States, COVID-19 testing dropped from two million per day in January 2021 to only about one million by March.

Now labs are having to adapt again, leading forward-looking lab managers and directors to ask:

  • What will be the new balance between testing for SARS-CoV-2 and routine diagnostics?
  • Should my clinical laboratory even continue testing for coronavirus?
  • Where is the best opportunity to generate revenue now?
  • How do I transition my lab effectively—and efficiently—to best serve patients and the healthcare industry as a whole?

This white paper, Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes Through Collaboration with Life Science, answers these questions and more. It explores how the rapid decline in SARS-CoV-2 testing affects molecular laboratories and the life sciences industry as a whole and offers opportunities for drug developers and labs to work together in new and beneficial ways.

Biospecimens present a win-win proposition for both the clinical lab and life sciences industries

As researchers on the life-science side study coronavirus and other diseases, the value of accumulated biosamples is being reevaluated. UCSF Professor Scott VandenBerg, MD, PhD, draws the connection: “Biospecimens are important because they allow researchers to better understand the causes of diseases and evaluate potential therapies.” Labs have always retained biospecimens, but COVID-19 has spotlighted their value.

Drugmakers are expected to prioritize the development of therapeutics for new patient cohorts, such as long-haul COVID-19 patients while verifying the fidelity of biomarkers used to identify and treat comorbidities. Data generated from analysis of leftover COVID-19 samples that labs can provide could dramatically accelerate this process.

This white paper examines how molecular laboratories can generate new revenue while also contributing to the greater good of society. One primary way to achieve both is to harvest more value from samples through new relationships with life science companies and biobanks. In these new business arrangements, labs would also benefit because instead of paying to dispose of their leftover COVID-19 specimens as regulated medical waste, they could biobank them at little to no cost.

Table of Contents—Chapters at a glance

This 24-page white paper, Repurposing Your Lab’s Leftover COVID-19 Samples: Building New Revenue and Better Patient Outcomes Through Collaboration with Life Sciences, includes the following main chapters:

Chapter 1: COVID-19 Testing: What’s Next After the Rapid Ramp Up and Sudden Decline?

While many labs initially lost revenue when routine testing crashed with the pandemic shutdown, the seemingly unending demand for SARS-CoV-2 testing helped labs rally as they pivoted from traditional diagnostics to COVID-19 testing. Some labs reported exceptional year-over-year revenue growth. At least 48% of clinical labs adopted new testing methodologies or automation to meet the demands of COVID volumes, and many startup and pop-up labs were launched, pointing to a significant investment in COVID testing alone. This chapter examines where we are now and what might be ahead now that COVID-19 testing is winding down.

Chapter 2: Looking Beyond COVID-19 Testing to Find Residual Value and Revenue in Collected Specimens

To stay profitable and relevant, every clinical and molecular laboratory’s short-term and long-term strategic planning must consider the evolving nature of the pandemic. This chapter covers what labs should consider as they evaluate how to repurpose their COVID-related assets, including equipment, molecular testing platforms, and COVID-19 specimens themselves.

Chapter 3: Key Points of Molecular Laboratory Diversification into Biobanking

Biobanking can be a positive thing for labs—for example, to supplement revenue, advance research, and lead to other business development in the lab services space. But it also has its challenges. This chapter discusses both the potential benefits of biobanking and the hurdles labs can face, including regulations, logistical difficulties, consent, collecting and managing samples, and building relationships with industry and research partners.

Chapter 4: The Role of LIMS in Biobanking

Questions often surround the value of a sample, such as: How was the sample collected from the patient? How was it stored? Is the label still secure? When will the sample expire and no longer be considered valuable for research? For labs trying to organize their samples and have at-a-glance answers to questions about them, a proper laboratory information management system (LIMS) or laboratory information system (LIS) streamlines the process. This chapter covers what lab managers and directors should consider as they look to strengthen their quality systems to validate and verify their samples and tests.

Produced in partnership with:

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2021 ForecastClinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities and Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond

2021 Forecast
Clinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities and Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond

White-Paper-2021-Forecast-Clinical-Laboratories-Use-Automation-to-Expand-Data-Capabilities

Clinical laboratories have been significantly stressed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. When COVID-19 treatments appropriated slots previously reserved for elective surgeries, procedures, and routine tests, labs lost revenue and turnaround times were lengthened.

Additionally, labs found the technology for running COVID-19 tests as well as administering the necessary documentation was lacking efficiency. Pressures have been compounded by demand from federal and state authorities for compliance with new COVID-related data reporting requirements— a process for which automation has been underused. In fact, most technology currently in place was not built for this new type of workflow, with the predominance of lab systems based on a patient encounter. COVID-19 testing frequently falls outside of these parameters.

Fortunately, since the pandemic began, lessons have been learned. Clinical laboratories have pivoted and adapted— and yet the question remains as to how far into the future labs will need to offer COVID-19 tests on a large scale,  with some predictions stretching deep into 2021 and beyond.

As a result, because of urgent needs related to the pandemic, clinical labs are presented with a unique opportunity to strengthen their resilience, redefine their role and offerings, and further extend their value by enhancing patient safety and quality of care.

However, to accurately report on infection patterns and to track and predict infectious diseases—actionable data is a must, along with data structuring to support infection and treatment protocols. Progress in these areas depends on clean, reliable data. Clinical laboratory data that is originated efficiently and accurately using automation to collect, process, and report adds value, reduces costs, and improves patient outcomes.

To address labs’ dire need for clean and reliable data, Dark Daily is pleased to offer this new FREE white paper for laboratory professionals that explains the key steps—and positive results—of strengthening the data service infrastructure of your clinical lab.

This FREE White Paper will provide insights on:

  • Why the pandemic disruption carries an unprecedented opportunity, and underscores the imperative to strengthen the healthcare data service infrastructure
  • Understand how manual processing of data negatively impacts your lab and not only results in data incongruity, but also affects your practitioner relationships, patient care, and getting reimbursed in a timely manner
  • Learn the 3 crucial steps for improving the flow of your clinical laboratory’s data collection, capture, and reporting
  • How to ensure your lab’s data management can keep pace with innovation and ongoing new standards for infectious disease and public health reporting, and much more


White Paper Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Strengthening the Clinical Laboratory Data Service Infrastructure

Part 2: Key Steps for Realizing Accuracy, Expanded Capacity, and Reporting of Clinical Laboratory Data

Improve the Data Collection Process of Clinical Laboratories by Reducing Manual Inputs: Three Primary Tasks

Ensure Clinical Laboratory Clean Order Entry: Best Practices

Implement Automation to Strengthen Clinical Laboratory Data Quality, Data Veracity, and Resilience: What to Expect on an Enterprise Level

Organize and Filter Clinical Laboratory Data for Internal, Vertical, and External Integration: Three Truths That Become Evident

Conclusion

Although the healthcare system and clinical laboratories remain significantly stressed by the COVID-19 pandemic, flexibilities and solutions continue to develop. 2021 indicates a sea change in healthcare data collection, integration, and interoperability.

Indeed, healthcare providers are in a unique position, with clinical laboratories the developers, custodians, and distributors of volumes of data that offer opportunities for improving healthcare outcomes, making it incumbent upon lab leaders and their hospital and health system stakeholders to think more strategically.

Learn what you need to know to develop a unified data organization, interoperability, and reporting plan for your lab that leverages accurate, actionable data. Download your FREE copy of “Clinical Laboratories Use Automation to Expand Their Data Capabilities And Strengthen Their Resilience to Respond Faster During a Pandemic and Beyond” below!

Produced in partnership with:

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Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI):  2020 Update on Clinical Utility and Reimbursement Trends

Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): 2020 Update on Clinical Utility and Reimbursement Trends

White-Paper-Clinical-Utility-Reimbursement-Molecular-Testing-for-Urinary-Tract-Infection

 

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the second most common type of infection in the US, accounting for 10.5 million office visits per year and 50 percent of all Medicare hospital admissions. UTI is among the most common cause of bacterial infections in long-term care facility residents.

Effective treatment of a UTI is reliant upon the accurate identification of the pathogens and the correct choice of antibiotics. Although culture-based clinical laboratory testing methods remain the gold standard for diagnosing UTI in both research and clinical laboratories, the clinical utility of such methods continues to be called into question.

 

 

This white paper provides insights on the status of clinical utility of rapid molecular testing for UTI, describes settings where molecular testing for UTI is of high value to improving outcomes, details experiences of successful early adopters of this technology.

Find these, and many more business-critical insights in this White Paper:

  • Learn why a large number of Gram-negative and especially Gram-positive organisms cannot grow in typical culture-based testing conditions, leading to false negatives and missed organisms in a polymicrobial UTI
  • See a comparison study of traditional urine culture testing to multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular testing, run in parallel, showing that the molecular method found six additional polymicrobial cases for every one found using urine cultures
  • How, in addition to higher detection rates, PCR can provide results in as little as 6 hours, and may facilitate more appropriate and efficacious treatment that improves clinical care and outcomes
  • Why insurers and other payers are now acknowledging molecular diagnostic testing, which includes deoxyribonucleic acid-(DNA) or ribonucleic acid-(RNA) based analysis, and much more


White Paper Table of Contents

Chapter 1:
Problems and Limitations of Culture-Based Testing for UTI in Contrast to Molecular Testing

Chapter 2:
Recent Clinical Trials Focused on UTI Diagnostics Using Rapid Molecular Testing

Chapter 3:
Reimbursement Trends and Cost Versus Value in Molecular Testing for UTI

 

CONCLUSION

Molecular tests are becoming more routine as diagnostic tools, with many now covered by Medicare and commercial insurers. Advantages of molecular tests based on PCR technology include their ability to identify uropathogens traditionally missed by culture-based tests.

Driven by urgent, unmet analytical and clinical care needs, the adoption of the rapid molecular test—particularly RT-PCR for urinary tract infection control and treatment—has important implications.

Find out how this innovative testing strategy could benefit your lab by downloading your FREE copy of Molecular Testing for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)” below.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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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

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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!

 

Produced in partnership with:

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Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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