Mar 27, 2012 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Trends in salary, compensation, and benefits is nation’s oldest for medical laboratory CEOs, executives, and administrators
For the fourth consecutive year, a reliable national survey of compensation trends for clinical laboratory executives, administrators, directors, pathologists, and managers was conducted. The first findings of this survey will be presented on May 1 at the Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Slone Partners of Miami Beach, Florida, national recruitment experts for the diagnostic laboratory industry, and The Dark Report once again collaborated to produce what is fast-becoming the nation’s most comprehensive national survey of trends in compensation, benefits, and perks paid to senior executives, lab administrators, lab managers, pathologists, and Ph.D.s working in the United States. (more…)
Feb 22, 2012 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
From volunteer services, to replaced equipment, to outdated NCCLS materials, anything can be of help in poor countries where no medical laboratories come anywhere close to those of the caliber many of us take for granted.
Carla Orner never sleeps. No one as busy as she is has time to waste on even a little shut-eye. She is the full-time ambassador for Heart to Heart International. Her relationship with Heart to Heart International (HHI) began during her attendance at a regional meeting of a medical laboratory organization. “A speaker who was a HHI employee asked for medical laboratory volunteers to assist in its mission,” she says. The rest is history, as the saying goes! She works with doctors and nurses who volunteer, but her primary goal is to attract more medical laboratory technicians and technologists to join the volunteer effort through Heart to Heart. One tip that Orner shares with potential volunteers is that of the “mobile” CLIA license, which allows the establishment of a lab that can be operated anywhere in the United States. In all her experience in filling out forms for CLIA, Orner confessed, “I never saw the box labeled ‘mobile.’”
Orner also continues to present at CLMA and ASCP, among other organizations’ annual and regional meetings. For many years, she held a position as general manager of Regional Laboratory Alliance in Kansas City, MO, where she led an integrated network of community based hospitals and independent reference laboratories. Her 36 years of laboratory experience included night shift, evening shift, and 15 years microbiology. Among all of that, Orner was awarded a B.S. in Medical Technology from Central Missouri State University, and an MBA from MidAmerica Nazarene University. (more…)
Jan 11, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Innovative pathology laboratory organizations in the UK and Europe will come together at the Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine (FiLM) conference on January 31-February 1, 2012
For decades, the pathology and medical laboratory service in the United Kingdom has been the envy of many developed nations. But times change and the National Health Service (NHS) finds itself coping with increased demand, shrinking budgets, and soaring healthcare costs. As a result, the NHS is asking pathology testing labs in the UK to do more with less.
Consequently, the status quo for pathology and medical laboratory medicine in the United Kingdom is undergoing fundamental change—often at a rapid pace. In some areas, multiple hospital laboratories are being asked to consolidate into a single regional lab organization.
Another change is that price competition for pathology testing has become a factor. Within the NHS, primary care trusts now tender for pathology testing services and commission those pathology laboratories that bid the most competitive prices. The tender and commissioning process is creating new economic winners and losers among pathology laboratories throughout the United Kingdom. (more…)
Sep 28, 2011 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Many in the clinical laboratory and pathology industry will hold their breath as Myriad seeks to derail gene patent challenge by attacking standing of sole remaining plaintiff
There’s news regarding the widely-watched federal lawsuit that challenges the gene patents owned by Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN). On September 13, a Federal Circuit panel denied the ACLU’s Petition for Rehearing in this case. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists following this controversial lawsuit will be interested in this latest development.
Since early this year, there have ongoing legal maneuvers by both sides in this case, which is officially titled: Association for Molecular Pathology, et al v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office et al. 09-civ-4515. It is a high profile lawsuit because of its potential to establish important new legal precedents in how and when genes may be patented. (more…)
Sep 7, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Clinical laboratory managers are often part of the ER’s process improvement team
Hospital emergency rooms (ER) across the country are intensifying their focus on improving patient safety and reducing errors. The cost of malpractice lawsuits filed after errors in emergency rooms is a major reason why growing numbers of hospitals are initiating formal programs to identify and eliminate the source of errors and wrong care provided to patients.
It probably won’t surprise most pathologists and clinical laboratory managers to learn that diagnostic errors are one significant source of malpractice claims that result from care provided by hospital emergency rooms, which can often be chaotic and overcrowded. Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that a large percentage of medical errors in hospitals—and the resulting malpractice suits—occur because of mistakes in the emergency room. Studies of closed claims show that 37% to 55% of the malpractice suits are attributable to diagnostic errors. (more…)
