May 18, 2018 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
From reduced medical laboratory test ordering to dealing with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups are impacted daily by rising healthcare costs. Until now, however, one demographic was not affected—affluent Americans. But that is no longer the case. According to Bloomberg, thousands of people—some earning more than $125,000 a year—are now foregoing health insurance altogether and instead choosing concierge medicine because it costs less....
May 16, 2018 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Harvard School of Medicine researcher discovers only a fraction of all known human genes are ever included in research studies It seems every day that diagnostic test developers are announcing new genetic tests for everything from researching bloodlines to predicting vulnerability to specific chronic diseases. However, as most pathologists know, there are more than 20,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome. Thus, an overwhelming majority of genes are not being researched or studied....
May 14, 2018 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
Genetic counselors struggle to explain direct-to-consumer genetic test data—or correct provider misinterpretations of results—while often encountering resistance and anger from patients who don’t accept their counseling Healthcare consumers who want to know more about their family’s genealogy are purchasing direct-to-consumer (DTC) home genetic tests in record numbers. It is a trend that worries some medical laboratory professionals and certain federal government agencies. MIT Technology...
May 11, 2018 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Chronic disease monitoring at home has become a boon to patients as well as hospitals that are finding cost savings in programs designed to monitor/treat patients at external locations Many clinical pathologists and medical laboratory scientists will be wary about the news that a California company wants to have cancer patients do their own CBCs at home, and that a device to enable such testing is being prepped to go through the FDA clearance process. Home-based medicine care and chronic...
May 7, 2018 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Genomic analysis of pipes and sewers leading from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Care Center in Bethesda, Md., reveals the presence of carbapenem-resistant organisms; raises concern about the presence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria previously undetected in hospital settings If hospitals and medical laboratories are battlegrounds, then microbiologists and clinical laboratory professionals are frontline soldiers in the ongoing fight against hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and...
