Sep 9, 2013 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
Laboratory Corporation of America gets 26 MuirLab Patient Service Centers (PSCs) in Northern California
Another hospital system is exiting the clinical laboratory outreach business. John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, California, agreed on Tuesday to sell its MuirLab business to Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) in Burlington, North Carolina.
In the deal, LabCorp will take over and operate 26 MuirLab Patient Service Centers (PSCs) in parts of Northern California, including Contra Costa, Alameda, and Solano counties. In addition, LabCorp is purchasing the client list of office-based physicians and hospitals serve by MuirLab. LabCorp will also be the preferred provider of reference lab services for John Muir Health and its affiliates.
John Muir Health will retain its two hospital-based labs in Walnut Creek and Concord. Terms were not announced and the sale is due to close in November.
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Jun 11, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Pathology
Pathology profession’s leading experts in lab informatics predict plenty of disruption as hospitals work to integrate their informatics systems
DATELINE—PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: Last Friday, what I will call the All-Stars of pathology informatics and clinical laboratory information systems (LIS) came together for a one-day Strategy Summit. Disruptive forces are loose within the laboratory informatics space and participants were eager to understand these trends and develop effective responses to keep medical laboratory testing at the forefront of clinical care.
Almost 100 pathologists, laboratory informatics vendors, LIS consultants, and hospital CIOs participated. Your Dark Daily editor was here as a careful listener. The Strategy Summit was organized by the Association for Pathology Informatics (API). API President Mark Tuthill, M.D., was chair of the program. Tuthill is also Division Head, Pathology Informatics, at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. (more…)
Apr 8, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Health insurers want to control the rapid growth in expensive genetic and molecular assays
For many clinical laboratories and pathology groups, genetic tests and molecular diagnostic assays are the fastest-growing part of the test menu. This is true both in the increased volume of specimens for genetic tests and the growing number of such medical laboratory tests that are accepted for clinical use.
This is a bright spot for the nation’s clinical pathology laboratories. That’s because many genetic tests and molecular assays deliver significant clinical value to the physician and his or her patient—while generating ample reimbursement for the medical laboratory that performs these tests.
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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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