News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
Sign In

Medical Laboratories in Canada Face Squeeze from a Retiring Labor Force, the Need to Acquire New Diagnostic Technologies, and Increased Demand for Lab Tests

In provinces across Canada, health systems are dealing with limited budgets, growing populations, and the need to transition to personalized medicine

Medical laboratories in Canada have something in common with medical laboratories in most other developed nations. Demand for healthcare services exceeds capacity, even as the healthcare system struggles to find adequate funding. This puts pathology labs in a bind, since they are asked to test growing numbers of specimens even as budgets are flat or shrinking.

That means the biggest two challenges facing labs in Canada will be familiar to pathologists, clinical chemists and medical laboratory scientists in almost every other developed nation across the globe. One challenge is how to meet the steady annual increase in lab specimens that must be tested. The second challenge is how to do that additional testing even as government health systems are forced to trim budgets year after year. (more…)

Two Surveys Raise Questions about Willingness of Consumers to Pay Pathology Laboratories for Expensive Genetic Cancer Tests

This finding is reinforced by the fact that high-deductible health plans are now the second most popular plan option offered by the nation’s employers

Getting paid for expensive genetic cancer tests is likely to be tougher for clinical laboratories when the patient is covered by a high-deductible health plan. There are two trends that are contributing to this situation, each highlighted by recently-published studies.

One trend is the rapid growth of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs). The second trend is growing evidence that patients, if they need to pay much money out of pocket, will decline to undergo genetic testing that is suggested by their physicians. (more…)

;