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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Big Healthcare Acquisitions Make News, Change Competitive Landscape for Clinical Pathology Laboratories

Sep 7, 2012 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations

Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers should not be surprised to see today’s nontraditional healthcare delivery models becoming tomorrow’s industry norm

Big healthcare players are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire unexpected targets. The biggest of these deals signal that healthcare consolidation and integration is a continuing trend. It is also a reminder to clinical laboratory managers and pathologists that the competitive healthcare marketplace is transforming at a steady pace.

Three such deals emphasize that the consolidation trend is alive and well:

  • Dignity Health purchased U.S. Healthworks this summer. No terms were disclosed, but some analysts estimate that the purchase price may have been more than $500 million.
  • DaVita Partners, a major player in dialysis services, is to purchase Healthcare Partners for $4.4 billion. Healthcare Partners operates 150 clinics in three states, plus has a national network of 8,300 independent physicians.
  • United HealthGroup, Inc., in deal announced last fall, acquired Monarch Healthcare, an independent physician association with 2,300 doctors in Southern California. Purchase price was not announced.

Acquisitions Have Potential to Reshape Competitive Landscape (more…)

Expert Says Accountable Care Organizations Must Embrace Patient Choice to be Successful

Nov 24, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

ACOs will change how clinical laboratories and pathology groups provide medical lab tests


Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups will need to gear up to support accountable care organizations (ACO) in advance of Medicare’s “Shared Savings Program” launch in January 2012. But decades after the first ACOs opened their doors, some experts debate whether they’ve succeeded in their mission, which begs the question, are they a good idea at all?

According to the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) who funded the report “Accountable Care Organizations in California—Lessons for the National Debate on Delivery System Reform,” ACOs are intended to “promote higher quality and more efficient healthcare delivery in the United states.” But according to the report’s author, James Robinson, director of the Center for Health Technology at the University of California at Berkeley, current ACO structures might need to be redesigned if ACOs are to be ultimately successful.

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