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
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Do Some Clinical Laboratory Companies Oversell Prenatal Genetic Screening Tests?

A growing number of media stories claim medical lab companies that develop genetic screening assays oversell the accuracy of such tests and fail to educate parents and doctors about the risks of false positives and false negatives

In response to growing concerns by consumers about the accuracy of some proprietary genetic screening assays, several media outlets have begun reporting on this sector of the clinical laboratory industry.

What gives these news stories emotional punch is the fact that patients use these proprietary medical laboratory tests to make decisions that can be life-changing. In its story about these tests, the Boston Sunday Globe used the headline “Oversold prenatal tests spur some to choose abortions.” (more…)

Australian Health Insurer NIB and Navigenics Team Up to Offer Cut-Rate Genetic Testing to NIB Customers

Australian patients are using an American clinical pathology laboratory for their genetic testing needs

It’s a half-price sale of genetic clinical laboratory tests for 5,000 customers of Australian health insurer NIB. NIB wants to encourage its beneficiaries to screen themselves to identify their genetic tendencies for such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, and other diseases with a known genetic component.

NIB has arranged for California-based Navigenics to conduct the genetic tests for a price of US $499. That’s a 50% discount from Navigenics’ usual retail price of US $999.

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