Mar 18, 2013 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Goal is to deliver more accurate medical laboratory testing in developing countries to improve quality of care
Picture a point-of-care (POC) device that produces highly accurate HIV results at a lower cost and 10 times faster than traditional ELISA testing currently done by clinical laboratories—then automatically, instantaneously transmits and synchronizes the results with cloud-based electronic healthcare records. This device is a reality and was developed by researchers at Columbia University in New York City.
Pathologists and medical laboratory professionals should know that this POC device was developed specifically to support laboratory-quality HIV-testing in remote areas of developing countries. Its creators want to also revolutionize the ability of patients and consumers worldwide to manage their health. (more…)
Sep 17, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Expanded universal screening would increase costs to the healthcare system; would the healthcare system shortchange clinical labs inadequate reimbursement for the increased number of screening tests?
Separate recommendations that call for widespread, regular screening for HIV and hepatitis C can be considered to be good news/bad news stories for the clinical laboratory testing industry. That’s because the benefits in patient health are likely to incur additional costs for which the healthcare system is not likely to fully reimburse the medical laboratories performing these screening tests.
To improve detection and diagnosis of HIV, a story published in Reuters reported that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) will issue a new recommendation to make human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening a standard practice. Experts believe that such a strategy would fundamentally change how the virus is detected and treated. (more…)
