Kaufman Hall Study Concludes Operating Margins are Declining in Nation’s Hospitals and Health Systems during 2022, a finding with implications for Hospital Laboratories

Jul 11, 2022 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

Clinical laboratory managers and pathology group leaders may want to pay closer attention to shrinking hospital margins and whether this may put pressure on hospital laboratory budgets Financial performance of the nation’s hospitals and health systems continues to disappoint hospital leaders. For the fourth consecutive month this year, hospital operating margins have remained in the red. This will, of course, affect the clinical laboratories and pathology departments at these institutions. A...

Will Blowing in a Device Be Useful in Screening for COVID-19? FDA Grants Its First EUA for a Breathalyzer SARS-CoV-2 Screening Test

Jun 3, 2022 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer identifies a chemical signature associated with SARS-CoV-2 in about three minutes with 91.2% sensitivity and 99.3% specificity One company is hoping that it can make breathalyzers a viable, easier way to screen for SARS-CoV-2. It will soon have the opportunity to learn if consumers will accept this form of screening for COVID-19, as its device recently obtained an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA. On April 14, 2022, InspectIR Systems, LLC, of Frisco,...

University of Missouri Research Team Identifies 46 Mutations Specific to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant That Could lead to Improved Clinical Laboratory Tests, Treatments, and Vaccines

Apr 13, 2022 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Precision Medicine

Many of the mutations were found at sites on the spike protein where antibodies bind, which may explain why the Omicron variant is more infectious than previous variants Scientists at the University of Missouri (UM) now have a better understanding of why the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is more infectious than previous variants and that knowledge may lead to improved antivirals and clinical laboratory tests for COVID-19. As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spread across the globe,...

Patient Safety Organization Releases Report Rating COVID-19 Home Tests for Ease of Use

Feb 14, 2022 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

Group’s report also suggests that at-home clinical laboratory tests for COVID-19 that are difficult to use may lead to inaccurate results At-home clinical laboratory tests for COVID-19 have become quite popular. But how accurate are they? Now, an independent safety organization has investigated COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to find out how easy—or not—they are to use and what that means for the accuracy of the tests’ results. ECRI (Emergency Care Research Institute) of Plymouth Meeting, Penn.,...

Could Omicron Variant Have Links to HIV? Infectious Disease Experts in South Africa Say ‘Yes’

Feb 4, 2022 | International Laboratory News, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Molecular Diagnostics, Genetic Testing, Whole Gene Sequencing, Precision Medicine

Given the large number of mutations found in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, experts in South Africa speculate it likely evolved in someone with a compromised immune system As the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant spreads around the United States and the rest of the world, infectious disease experts in South Africa have been investigating how the variant developed so many mutations. One hypothesis is that it evolved over time in the body of an immunosuppressed person, such as a cancer patient,...