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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Specialist Physicians Launch Patient-Centered Medical Homes, Creating Opportunities for Clinical Pathology Laboratories to Deliver Value-Added Medical Lab Testing

Specialist physicians will benefit from enriched medical laboratory consultations involving pathologists and other clinical laboratory scientists

Increasing numbers of medical specialists are launching patient-centered specialty practices (PCSP). This trend has implications for clinical laboratories and pathology groups because these office-based physicians will want tighter clinical and operational integration with other healthcare providers who treat the same patients.

Specialist physicians are watching the growth of patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) and how PCMHs are organized to provide proactive clinical services and maintain access to patients. In adopting this care model for specialty medical practices, these specialists will typically utilize a more extensive menu of medical laboratory tests and anatomic pathology professional support from their laboratory providers. (more…)

Physicians and Pathologists at Atrius Health Collaborate to Reduce Unnecessary Clinical Laboratory Test Orders and End Up Saving $1 Million Annually

In Massachusetts, a 1,000-physician group gets 70% of revenue from capitated payments, motivating the physicians to reduce unnecessary utilization of medical laboratory tests

Accumulating market evidence indicates that unnecessary utilization of medical laboratory tests—a problem bemoaned by pathologists for decades—may finally be addressed by an unlikely source: ordering physicians! Such a trend would have both positive and negative consequences for clinical laboratories throughout the United States.

What motivates physicians, on their own initiative, to reduce the unnecessary utilization of medical laboratory tests are changes in how they are paid. Many private health plans are reimbursing office-based physicians using global payment arrangements, such as capitation. (more…)

Physician-Led Accountable Care Organizations May Offer Advantages for Clinical Laboratories

Last year, hospital-run ACOs outnumbered physician-led ACOs, but this year, the opposite is true, creating opportunities for pathologists and clinical laboratories

Until recently, the popular wisdom was that hospitals and health systems would tend to play dominant roles in most accountable care organizations (ACOs). However, new data shows that physicians are holding their own in the formation and management of ACOs.

This is an auspicious development for local clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Physician-run ACOs are much more likely to consider using an independent medical laboratory provider. (more…)

Fast Increase in the Number of Medical Homes Creates New Business Opportunities for Clinical Pathology Laboratories

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…)

Physician Business Leader Predicts Healthcare’s Winners and Losers as More Organizations Take Steps to Become Patient-Centered Medical Homes

Growth in the number of medical homes could make winners of those pathology groups and medical laboratories that learn how to best meet the needs of these providers

Physician executives at TransforMED, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, are blogging with their opinions about which providers will be winners and losers in healthcare. Although most pathologists may not agree with these opinions, there are useful insights to be gleaned from the reasoning behind these opinions.

According to TransforMed’s physician-leaders, healthcare is not about to transform—it already has! The healthcare world is no longer changing, it has changed, and “there will be winners and losers,” stated Terry McGeeney, M.D., MBA, FAAFP, in a blog published on the TransforMed Website.
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