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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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

dark daily risk management white paper

 

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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Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now

Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now

anatomic-pathology-white-paper-dark-dailyAnatomic pathology laboratories are struggling to remain profitable as they grapple with increasing workloads amid sweeping reimbursement cuts. The traditional pathology business model hangs in the balance, with some labs operating at such a thin margin that it may only take one severe adverse event to put them out of business.

Digital pathology is one wide-ranging solution that’s tackling these systemic challenges. Driven by recent technological and regulatory approvals, leading academic and commercial laboratories are increasingly going digital to overcome significant gaps in efficiency and diagnostic accuracy. These same labs are implementing computational applications that leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to expand on the productivity, quality, and confidence gains they’ve already realized.

As a laboratory professional, you may recognize that the time to go digital is now. DARK Daily is pleased to offer this FREE white paper — “Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now — that provides evidence to justify your decision to go digital, as well as key insights and best practices that can help your lab make the shift successfully.

Download the White Paper now to get a synopsis of recent research and real-world cases that demonstrate the economic and scientific necessity of adopting digital pathology platforms and AI applications. Gather perspective from in-depth interviews with industry-leading labs that lay out the benefits they themselves gained from going digital.

 

 

This White Paper includes all this, and much more:

  • Learn detailed examples of how AI-enabled digital pathology drives diagnostic confidence, increased productivity, and cost savings
  • Benefit from insights and best practices shared by digital pathology pioneers including Zoltan Laszik, MD, PhD, Professor of Clinical Pathology, UCSF; Nicolas Cacciabeve, MD, Managing Partner, Advanced Pathology Associates; Kiran Motaparthi, MD, Program Director, Department of Dermatology, University of Florida; and Anthony Magliocco, MD, President and CEO, Protean BioDiagnostics
  • Enhance your perspective on how AI-powered digital pathology systems will drive the future of diagnostics and empower precision medicine
  • Get key takeaways from leading-institution case studies including University of Florida, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Granada University Hospitals


White Paper Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1: Digital Pathology Pioneers Prove Its Success and Long-Term Viability

Chapter 2: How AI Applications are Already Revolutionizing Cancer Diagnostics and Research Today

Chapter 3: Digital Pathology and AI in Practice: What’s Next?

CONCLUSION

Get the facts your laboratory needs when considering digital pathology, and how it’s possible to join other laboratories that are realizing 13 to 21% efficiency and productivity gains since adopting this technology.

Learn more by downloading your FREE copy of Anatomic Pathology at the Tipping Point? The Economic Case for Adopting Digital Technology and AI Applications Now now.

 

Produced in partnership with:

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How to Create a Patient-centered Lab with Breakthrough Blood Collection Technology: Microsampling takes blood collection out of the clinic

How to Create a Patient-centered Lab with Breakthrough Blood Collection Technology: Microsampling takes blood collection out of the clinic

neoteryx-white-paper-coverPatient-centered care (also known as a “patient-centric” approach to medicine) represents a paradigm shift in how patients and providers think about the processes of treatment and healing. Patient-centric care can lead to increased comfort and convenience, leading to a better patient experience—which in turn leads to improved adherence and compliance. Improved patient compliance is of course an essential contributing factor to the ultimate goal—enhanced treatment efficiency and safety, and better clinical outcomes.

More researchers and technicians, and the clinicians who rely upon them, are adopting and adapting patient-centric technologies to improve the quality of patient care and thus support enhanced clinical outcomes. Included in this proliferation of new technologies are those based on concept of remote patient monitoring (RPM).

 

Remote patient monitoring makes many aspects of healthcare less invasive and intrusive for patients. Patients can participate in their care from the comfort and privacy of their own homes. Expenses associated with healthcare travel and long wait times are minimized. Patients take more control over their treatment, maintain greater stability, and are often happier than those who need to travel to have illnesses and chronic conditions monitored. This approach is proving so beneficial for both patients and healthcare professionals, it has touched off a new wave of innovation—that of remote blood sampling using microsampling technology.

Microsampling technology, which can be easily used by patients themselves, is less invasive than traditional blood collection, is well-suited for children, and an option for individuals who experience needle anxiety. From the perspective of those collecting and analyzing samples, microsampling technology provides a reliable and economical collection, shipping and storage solution, as well as new opportunities to gather stable samples in low-resource regions.

 

The Dark Report is pleased to offer this FREE White Paper—“How to Create a Patient-centered Lab with Breakthrough Blood Collection Technology: Microsampling takes blood collection out of the clinic that will provide you with valuable and informative insights on how the field-changing technology of microsampling can answer your challenges of changing remote patient requirements.

This White Paper provides you with a detailed discussion regarding:

  • How Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling (VAMS™) technology was developed to solve for the limitations of the old, familiar versions of dried blood sampling technology
  • How new microsampling technology can be performed in such a way that, unlike older technologies, can ensure consistency and accuracy
  • What the new technology looks like, how it is configured, and design details that make it readily adoptable by labs, clinicians, and patients alike
  • Ways in which new microsampling technology facilitates a more patient-centric lab, and provides a user-friendly alternative to older, more intrusive or cumbersome methods
  • Technical evidence for efficacy substantiating the benefits and utility of new microsampling technology for applications such as therapeutic drug monitoring and remote specimen collection
  • A practical, step-by-step roadmap to new microsampling technology adoption, deployment and success


White Paper Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Rise of Patient-centered Care

Chapter 2: The Rise of Remote Patient Monitoring

Chapter 3: So, What is Microsampling, Exactly?

Chapter 4: The Volumetric Hematocrit Bias

Chapter 5: VAMS™: What It Is and How It Works

Chapter 6: Microsampling: Preferred by Patients

Chapter 7: The Road to Deployment: A Tested Step-by-Step Customer Roadmap

Chapter 8: Frequently Asked Questions

For those interested in new microsampling technology, what it is and how it works, this White Paper is the ideal resource. Download your FREE copy of “How to Create a Patient-centered Lab with Breakthrough Blood Collection Technology: Microsampling takes blood collection out of the clinicnow.

 

Download the White Paper now by completing the form below.

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