Sep 21, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Hospitals Opening Retail Clinics to Capture Greater Market Share
Walk-in rapid medical clinics in retail stores are so popular with consumers that now hospitals want in on the action. Some of the nation’s most famous hospitals have inked agreements to put their brand on rapid clinics located inside many of the country’s largest retail and pharmacy chains.
Hospital-branded rapid clinics are inside 25 Wal-Mart stores nationally, according to a New York Times article. Additionally, Cleveland Clinic lent its brand to CVS drugstore clinics in northern Ohio, Mayo Clinic is operating Express Care clinics inside a supermarket and shopping mall in Rochester, Minnesota, and there are others. In fact, one in 10 retail clinics are now connected to a hospital, and more are planned, according to Merchant Medicine News, an online newsletter for the clinic industry.
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Sep 16, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
More sophistication and performance in new POCT and monitoring systems for home use
Efforts to increase patient home self-testing and monitoring continue to pay off. Two new products for point-of-care (POC) health tests and patient home monitoring recently entered the marketplace. Both systems are devices that enable healthcare professionals to remotely monitor patients with chronic illnesses.
Separately, UK-based The Jaltek Group and Sweden-based Ericsson each introduced wireless monitoring systems worn by patients at home or in healthcare facilities. These systems improve patients’ quality of life by continuously monitoring their vital signs while allowing free movement. These devices also avoid the need for frequent trips to the doctor and may lower health care costs.
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Aug 12, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Effort will identify which clinical procedures actually benefit patients—and are cost-effective
“Comparative effectiveness research (CER)” is likely to be one method that healthcare reformers use to establish reimbursement for different medical technologies and treatments. This will apply equally to clinical laboratory testing and pathology professional services as well as other medical procedures.
There is a compelling reason why comparative effectiveness is likely to happen on this turn of the healthcare reform wheel. Congress put teeth into the comparative effectiveness movement earlier this year when it provided $1.1 billion to support the effort in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
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Aug 7, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
MedPAC recommendation targets high-cost imaging done in physician’s offices
Following the lead of some private insurers, Medicare may soon require preauthorization for high-cost imaging tests—including CT, MRI and PET scans—done in physician offices. This is one of two strategies aimed at reducing payments for Part B physician radiology services that was recommended by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) in its report to Congress in March.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) estimates that preauthorization could save the Medicare program $220 million by 2014 and about $1 billion by 2019. To make preauthorization work, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would establish a panel of experts, to be known as a Radiology Benefits Managers (RBMs), to assist in evaluating and adjusting payment for potentially overvalued imaging services ordered by physicians with their own imaging facilities.
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Jul 29, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
New care delivery model might emerge from collaboration between two partners
Guess which famous health provider is partnering with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to encourage patients using home self-testing devices to regularly upload those data into an electronic medical record? It’s the Cleveland Clinic Health System. This project may point to a disruptive new model for laboratory testing.
It’s a pioneering arrangement. Microsoft’s HealthVault is interfaced with the eCleveland Clinic MyChart patient portal to create an interactive feature that collects data on from in-home medical devices used by patients with chronic conditions. The pilot project includes 460 patients with diabetes, congestive heart failure and hypertension. These patients use home blood pressure monitors, glucometers, and weight scales which are linked to the HealthVault platform personal health record (PHR) system.
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