Jan 3, 2014 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
There’s more consolidation in the hospital marketplace as institutions look to build scale and offer a fuller menu of healthcare services
Across the United States, multi-hospital health systems and stand-alone academic medical centers are looking for the right collaborations, alliances, and consolidation opportunities. This is happening because hospitals of all sizes and types recognize the need to be part of a comprehensive, integrated provider network in their region.
This is a trend that has ramifications for clinical laboratories and pathology groups that operate in the regions where these alliances and collaborations happen. That is because such collaborations can often change the competitive market for medical laboratory testing in the communities served by the partners in the alliance.
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Oct 11, 2013 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Predictions are that more disease-prevention programs will be developed, creating the opportunity for laboratories to be more proactive in helping clinicians keep patients well
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers take note! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accumulating a growing body of evidence that its community-based diabetes prevention program is effective at improving the health of participating patients.
These auspicious findings may encourage a steep increase in the number and type of disease-prevention programs. In turn, greater deployment of such programs could further accelerate healthcare’s shift away from a reactive treatment of disease model to a proactive disease prevention model of care.
Such developments would be favorable for medical laboratories and pathology groups. As physicians pay more attention to diagnosing disease at earlier stages, they will want to tap the expertise of pathologists, Ph.D.s, and laboratory scientists. (more…)
Sep 11, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Management & Operations
News stories are reporting that Walgreens is participating in ACOs now forming in New Jersey, Florida, and Texas
Retail clinics are positioning themselves to play a major role in the delivery of basic primary care services. Consumer and payer acceptance of the “convenience care” model has brought the concept to a tipping point in its potential to shift the way that some basic primary care—and medical laboratory testing—services are delivered.
Dark Daily has long predicted that retail clinics would want to expand their services beyond the original formula of a nurse practitioner who handles a basic menu of easy-to-diagnose conditions. Consumers have readily accepted this healthcare delivery model. In fact, a new title has been coined that has its own Wikipedia.com page: Convenient care clinic. (more…)
Aug 5, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
The Increase in Certifications is the Result of New Reimbursement Models for Patient-Centered Medical Homes by Third-Party Payers
There is much activity in the patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) sector of the U.S. healthcare system. A host of certification and accreditation bodies have set up shop and they report a rapid increase in the number of organizations they are recognizing as medical homes.
That fact alone is significant news. It is evidence that physicians are spending substantial time and money to convert their medical practices into medical homes. In turn, this trend represents an opportunity for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, since medical homes need to order clinical laboratory tests on behalf of their patients. (more…)
Jul 24, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
One consequence of the difference in intergenerational attitudes of physicians is the trend to more employee physicians
For the dominant generation working in healthcare today—the Baby Boomers—retirement looms. At the same time, however, the younger generation—particularly Generation X—is acquiring the experience and maturity needed to assume leadership roles. As these individuals move into senior executive and administrative positions, healthcare experts are predicting growing conflict over the role of physicians in the new models of integrated healthcare now taking shape in this country.
This is a demographic and societal trend with major implications for the operating culture of clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. Generation X physicians, including young pathologists, are ready to challenge Baby Boomer physicians about the best way to organize and deliver clinical services. (more…)
