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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Providers, Payers and CMS Gear Up for ICD-10 Implementation, but Will They Be Prepared for Launch by October 1, 2014?

Pathologists and medical laboratory managers have only nine months to prepare their labs for ICD-10 implementation

Most clinical laboratory managers and pathologists know that October 1, 2014, is the date for implementation of ICD-10. After that date, each Medicare claim submitted by a medical laboratory must include the ICD-10 code provided by the referring physician.

This is a unique reason why clinical laboratories and pathology groups have keen interest in a smooth transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. Medicare will reject clinical laboratory test claims that either don’t have an ICD-10 code or have an incorrect ICD-10 code. Thus, labs hope that their client physicians make a smooth transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10. (more…)

Six Health IT Companies Join Forces to Develop Interoperable EHR Systems to Better Compete Against Epic’s EHR Product

CommonWell is the name of the new organization formed to create the interoperability that would enable universal access to each patient’s health care records

It was big news in the healthcare IT world when six major healthcare IT companies joined together on March 4 and announced a collaboration intended to develop electronic health record (EHR) systems that are interoperable. That is a goal that can come none too soon for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups.

The collaboration will take the form of an independent nonprofit organization to be called CommonWell Health Alliance. The six companies contributing to the formation of CommonWell are:

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HIE 2.0 Approaches as HIE Connectivity Delivers More Value for Patients and Providers

Advances in HIE technology and performance could prove beneficial to clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups

Even before most clinical laboratories have substantial experience with a full-function health information exchange (HIE) serving their region, one HIE expert is predicting that the next generation of HIEs is soon to arrive and will deliver more functionality.

“We’re maturing from HIE 1.0 to HIE 2.0,” declared Micky Tripathi. “We’re in a new world now.” Tripathi is in a position to know. He is CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. He also participates on the boards and/or steering committees of the Information Exchange Workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee, the eHealth Initiative, and the New England Health Exchange Network (NEHEN). (more…)

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