Proposed Federal Rules Let Patients Compare Healthcare Costs on Their Smartphones

Oct 2, 2019 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing

Another push for price transparency steps up pressure on medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups to develop compliance strategies Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups are under increasing pressure to develop strategies for making their test prices more accessible to patients. Those pressures are likely to grow due to newly proposed federal regulations that aim to allow patients to compare prices for healthcare services on their smartphones. This new proposed rule...

Insurer-Organized HIE in California Struggles to Get Participation from State’s Hospitals, Physicians, and Clinical Pathology Laboratories

Jul 6, 2016 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing

California insurers are building a massive health information exchange (HIE), but so far only one healthcare system is interested in participating Healthcare Big Data is big business. But it requires large databases with complete records of many patients, including their medical laboratory test results. That’s why two big California insurers would like to build such a data warehouse, however, hospitals and physicians are wary of feeding their patient data into an insurer-organized HIE. Why?...

Because It Remains Tough to Achieve Interoperability among EHRs, Congress is Proposing Legislation to Resolve That Issue in Ways That May Help Medical Laboratories

Oct 23, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations

One new federal law forbids health IT vendors and providers from deliberately blocking information-sharing with competing EHR systems Several years deep into its effort to get physicians and hospitals to use electronic health record (EHR) systems, the federal government has yet to come up with a way to improve interoperability—the ability of EHRs to interface and communicate with other systems. Stage one and stage two Meaningful Use guidelines have failed to successfully address the barriers...

HIE Use Rises along with Adoption of EHRs, but Full Interoperability Remains Elusive for Hospitals, Physicians, Clinical Labs, and Pathology Groups

Jul 11, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

The majority of the nation’s hospitals and physicians now use electronic health records and most of these EHR users are already exchanging clinical data with regional HIEs Pathologists tracking the adoption of EHR systems by hospitals and physicians will be interested to learn that, according to the federal government, more than 80% of hospitals and 50% of physicians now use these products. It is also reported that growing numbers of providers are exchanging data with health information...

Experts Say Vendors Charge Excessive Fees to Interface EHRs with Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Other Providers, and Networks

Oct 4, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Complaints are rolling in about the high-cost interface fees charged by EHR companies for federally mandated connections  It won’t surprise pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to learn that vendors of electronic health record (EHR) systems are milking physicians and other health-care providers with excessive fees above and beyond the EHR cost. Vendors are socking it to providers—including medical laboratories—in the pricing they charge to create the mandatory interfaces required for...
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