Mar 25, 2013 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
ISO 15189 is a quality management system specifically designed for the needs of medical laboratories
Use of quality management systems (QMS) by innovative clinical laboratories and pathology groups enables them to drive impressive gains in quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. This is a key development at a time when medical laboratory budgets are shrinking and more cuts in lab test prices are expected.
Going the Extra Mile to Improve Quality Could Be Strategic Opportunity
On all fronts of laboratory medicine, requirements are becoming more stringent. Each year, labs find themselves held to higher standards for compliance with both Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) requirements and Medicare accreditation guidelines. This situation will become further complicated as clinical labs face the need to also meet the requirements of accountable care organizations (ACOs) and similar models of integrated clinical care. Early adopters are responding to these marketplace dynamics by making strategic use of a QMS to boost the performance of their clinical laboratory organizations. As they do, they often gain a competitive advantage. (more…)
Nov 8, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement, Management & Operations
Speakers at Sixth Annual Lab Quality Confab told attendees that ACOs and integration of clinical care now make it important for medical laboratories to use Lean and QMS to deliver more value while substantially reducing costs
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—Here at the 6th annual Lab Quality Confab and Process Improvement Institute (LQC), an enthusiastic crowd of clinical laboratory industry “first movers” gathered to learn how leading medical laboratories, pathology groups, and hospitals are harnessing the power of process improvement to drive gains in quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.
Institute of Medicine Report RecommendsContinuous Learning
LQC’s founder and host, The Dark Report‘s (TDR) Editor-in-Chief, Robert Michel, opened the general session on day one with a look at a recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The report, titled “Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America”, has significant implications for healthcare providers. Including clinical laboratories. (more…)
Oct 31, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
New blood chemistry monitoring device could replace some traditional laboratory testing
There’s a new technology that makes it possible to continuously monitor an individual’s blood chemistry and wirelessly transmit the data. This technology uses a transdermal patch and is a different approach to clinical diagnostics with the potential to supplant some traditional medical laboratory testing.
This transdermal patch was developed by Sano Intelligence, one of San Francisco-based Rock Health’s start ups for 2012. These developments were reported in a story published by Co.EXIST. (more…)
Sep 20, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
It may be a small number of 15189-accredited medical laboratories, but these are prominent lab organizations and their ranks are growing
One by one, a small number of innovative clinical laboratory organizations are taking steps to earn accreditation to either ISO 15189 or CAP 15189. This is a quiet trend and one that has yet to attract widespread notice across the world of medical laboratory and pathology testing.
It is a trend that touches clinical lab organizations of all sizes. For example, many lab executives may be surprised to learn that multibillion-dollar Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) has five different clinical laboratory locations that have earned accreditation to CAP 15189. (more…)
Aug 27, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Fewer office-based physicians practice as a partner or shareholder in their medical group
For decades, the clinical laboratory industry has relied on the medical lab test referrals of office-based physicians as its primary source of patient specimens and revenue. The dominant business model of office-based physicians during these decades has been that of physicians as partners in private practice groups or as shareholders in professional corporations.
Similarly, over the past four decades, the profession of pathology has been dominated by the business model of partner-pathologists in a private group practice or professional corporation. But evidence continues to accumulate that the heyday of private practice anatomic pathology is soon to end.
(more…)
