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

More Doctors Using Dashboards with Real-Time Patient Data—Including Clinical Pathology Laboratory Test Results

Use of electronic medical record systems makes it easier for physicians to create patient  care dashboards

Just as more clinical laboratories are using real-time dashboards to manage operations and workflow, a similar trend is happening with office-based physicians. Physicians using electronic medical records (EMRs/EHRs) in their medical practice are creating dashboards that give them detailed, real-time information about their patients.

One example is the Marshfield Clinic, based in Marshfield, Wisconsin. A recent story by Healthcare-Informatics.com (HI), reported that Marshfield Clinic has created a real-time dashboard for physicians. Marshfield is a 779-physician multi-specialty group. The dashboard application provides doctors with usable data across their entire patient population.
(more…)

Survey Reveals Physicians Like Mobile Computing and Accessing Clinical Laboratory Tests Is One Important Use

QuantiaMD’s survey confirms that physicians will increasingly seek real-time connectivity and consultation with medical laboratory service providers

Physicians are quickly becoming fans of mobile computing. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists will be interested to learn that, in fact, mobile computing is taking hold among physicians faster than in the general population.

This was one conclusion from a recent survey, according to an article in Healthcare Informatics. QuantiaMD, a Waltham, MA-based mobile and online physician community, conducted a survey of 3,798 physicians. More than 80 % of the respondents said they own a mobile device capable of downloading applications. That means that a far higher percentage of physicians are using mobile devices than among the general public.

(more…)

Seattle Hospital Credits Lean for Its Financial Turnaround

Hospital leaders attribute process improvement with turning around the organization

In Seattle, Washington, one of the nation’s earliest hospitals to embrace and implement Lean and the Toyota Production System reports strong improvement in clinical care, along with sound finances. This is positive affirmation for those clinical laboratories and pathology groups that are using Lean methods in their own organizations.

It was almost 10 years ago when the 336-bed Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) took its first steps to implement Lean. During the academic medical center’s decade-long journey, use of out-of-the-box thinking and process improvement methods helped VMMC earn a slew of national recognitions for its award-winning outcomes produced by Lean. It calls its flavor of Lean the “Virginia Mason Production System.”

Restoring Financial Stability at Virginia Mason Medical Center

Ten years ago, VMMC faced difficult challenges as a healthcare provider and money was one of them.

(more…)

Digital Pathology to be Highlighted at This Year’s Annual Pathology Informatics Conference

Digital pathology is major trend in the clinical pathology laboratory industry


Among the three dominant trends in anatomic pathology informatics, digital pathology is expected to be of the highest interest to the attendees at this year’s Pathology Informatics 2010 annual conference, which takes place in Boston on September 19-22.

“More pathologists are paying attention to digital pathology because of the swift advances in the technology in recent years,” stated Bruce Friedman, Active Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School and President of the Pathology Education Consortium (PEC) is a conference organizer. “For example, new digital scanners make it faster and cheaper to produce a whole slide image that has rich detail.

(more…)

Multi-Modality Diagnosis Is New Trend That Integrates Imaging and Lab Testing

Today Dark Daily wants to introduce you to the emerging medical discipline of “multi-modality diagnosis.” Advances in genetics and molecular technologies are actively breaking down the traditional scope of practice for several medical specialists. At ground zero in this new area of medicine are pathology and radiology.

Multi-modality diagnosis can be defined in a simple manner. It is the use of several different types of clinical data-in an integrated fashion-to make a diagnosis. “Integration” is the key concept here, since physicians have always assembled information about the patient from several sources as they proceeded to evaluate the patient and make a diagnosis.

As doctors and researchers learn more about genetics and the role of DNA, RNA, and proteomics in various illnesses and ailments, there are huge increases in the volume of data now relevant in assessing the patient’s condition and determining the most accurate diagnosis. At the same time, medical specialties, particularly those of radiology and pathology, that formerly could work somewhat independently to evaluate the patient and provide the referring clinician with a report that was rather straightforward and simple, now face a new challenge. The expanding knowledge base of genetic and molecular information means that their evaluation of the patient needs to incorporate the findings of other medical specialists if the final assessment is to be accurate and useful to the referring clinician.

In other words, genetic medicine is the active catalyst that is already motivating different medical specialties to interact more closely to assess and diagnose certain types of diseases. At the forefront of this trend are progressive radiologists and pathologists-specifically those working with molecular imaging and molecular pathology. For example, in leading academic centers, it is growing ever more common for the neuropathologist and the neuroradiologist to review each other’s images before signing out their respective cases. In some laboratory settings, these two subspecialists are already developing a single, integrated report that goes to the referring physician.

Healthcare informatics is another channel of innovation propelling multi-modality diagnostics forward. Independent of pathology and radiology, there are informaticians pulling together disparate sets of patient data, then running this data through sophisticated software algorithms to develop diagnostic information that gives the patient’s physician new knowledge. Within the field of healthcare informatics, these innovators constantly describe their work as bringing together multiple modalities of data. Dark Daily readers should note that this effort is happening outside of the pathology and radiology specialties. It is an external trend to both professions.

Those interested in learning more about multi-modality diagnosis have two resources. In a recent issue of The Dark Report, a detailed intelligence briefing was published on this topic under the title “Multi-Modality Diagnosis Heading for Lab Medicine.” Dark Daily subscribers who would like a complementary copy of this intelligence briefing should contact Ron Martin at rbmatin@darkreport.com.

The second resource for learning more about multi-modality diagnosis is the upcoming Molecular Summit on the Integration of In Vivo and In Vitro Diagnostics http://www.molecular-summit.com On February 10-11, 2009, national and world leaders in molecular imaging, molecular diagnostics, and integrated informatics will be leading strategic sessions and case studies on this subject. Location is the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Speakers from such organizations as Massachusetts General Hospital, Stanford University Medical Center, MD Anderson Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center, Siemens, and the Institute for Systems Biology will provide the latest innovations in the integration of in vivo and in vitro diagnostics. Last year’s Molecular Summit attracted 225 attendees, along with editors and reporters from 15 healthcare publications. This next Molecular Summit has compelling case studies of how molecular diagnostics, when integrated with molecular imaging and other data sets, is giving clinicians powerful new insights for making diagnoses, identifying appropriate therapies, and monitoring patient progress.

The full agenda and speaker line-up for this year’s Molecular Summit can be viewed here (or paste this URL into your browser: http://www.molecular-summit.com/agenda.htm )

Make your plans to join us at Molecular Summit 2009 to learn how your laboratory can benefit from multi-modality diagnostics.

Early-Bird Discount Registration now available online
Visit http://www.molecular-summit.com

Download Full Program 2009 Agenda

Four Easy Ways to Register:
1. Register ONLINE
2. Call 800-560-6363. Our friendly staff can register you quickly and easily, as well as answer any questions you may have.
3. Fax this complete registration form to 512-264-0969
4. Mail the one page register form with payment to:

THE DARK REPORT
21806 Briarcliff Dr.
Spicewood, TX 78669

;