Jul 6, 2010 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
McKesson Corp. and MuirLab working to implement lab-friendly strategies to meet payer needs
Unfolding events make it likely that genetic testing will become a good news/bad news story for local clinical laboratories and pathology groups. The good news is that genetic tests and molecular assays will bring more diagnostic precision to patients and their physicians—and that points to an auspicious future for pathology and laboratory medicine.
The bad news is that payer requirements in the United States for pre-authorization of genetic tests may lock-out most local laboratories as providers for these specialized and important clinical laboratory tests. That’s the irony of this developing trend!
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May 19, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Use of synthetic antibodies and a finger prick sample of blood could give clinical laboratories new tool to screen for breast cancer
A simple clinical pathology laboratory blood test for early detection of breast cancer may be just around the corner. At the University of Arkansas (UA), researchers are building a library of synthetic antibodies called affitoids that can be used to detect breast cancer in its earliest stage.
Researchers believe they are closing in on the creation of an assay that can rapidly validate proteins secreted by microscopic breast cancer cells. “We want to implement a rapid screen that is sensitive, highly accurate, non-invasive and inexpensive,” said Shannon Servoss, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at UA. “Such a test would be easy to use and applicable to women of all ages, races and ethnicities,” she said. “Hopefully we will be able to make the test sensitive enough so that only a finger prick [specimen] is needed.”
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May 5, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Medical laboratory test data represents an essential component of the patient health record
It will soon be the era of patient health records (PHRs), based on data gathered during a survey conducted by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF). That has implications for clinical laboratories and pathology groups across the United States, since most laboratories now electronically report laboratory test results to physicians and their patients.
Press coverage of the study, titled “Consumers and Health Information Technology: A National Survey” following its release last month, touted the findings that wealthier individuals tend to use PHRs more, but that those with lower incomes and chronic conditions who use PHRs tend to benefit the most.
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May 3, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists already find it difficult to obtain gene patent licenses needed to offer multi-gene molecular diagnostic tests
Patents on human genes are a major issue in pathology and clinical laboratory testing. Now a new report based on the study of the positive and negative consequences of gene patenting comes to the conclusion that patents on human genes tend to deter competition in the gene testing market more than they encourage further development of new technologies for measuring the risk of disease.
Medical science is on the brink of mainstreaming genetic discovery into patient care. But patents and exclusive licensing threaten to fragment ownership of the human genome and derail the promise of personalized medicine for everyone, observed James P. Evans, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Genetics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in his commentary on a new report from Duke University that focused on the impact of patenting and exclusive licensing of human genes.
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Apr 28, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Speakers at the Executive War College discuss how their laboratories are supporting integration in support of better information flows and clinical service enhancements
As you read this, the second day of the 15th Annual Executive War College on Clinical and Pathology Laboratory Management is taking place in New Orleans, Louisiana. There is an enthusiastic crowd of pathologists, administrators, and lab managers in attendance.
During the opening session yesterday morning, a common theme among the speakers was the tighter integration of clinical pathology laboratory testing within the healthcare continuum. Probably the most innovative example was offered by Scott W. Binder, M.D., Senior Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Geffen UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles California.
Executive War College 2010 is now underway in New Orleans.
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