Oct 23, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News
Management Tool Contributes to More Collected Revenue, Higher Sales Prices
Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is hitting the radar screen at the nation’s best-managed clinical laboratories. That’s because shrinking reimbursement makes it imperative for clinical labs and pathology groups to collect every dollar legally due for the lab testing services they provide. RCM is a proven management tool for reducing unpaid claims and unlocking more productivity in the coding/billing/collections process.
“Revenue Cycle Management for laboratories encompasses all the administrative and management functions that contribute to the capture, and collection of revenue associated with lab testing services,” observed Lale White, CEO of Xifin, Inc. of San Diego, California. White has been an acknowledged national expert in laboratory coding, billing, and collections for more than two decades.
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Jun 5, 2009 | Laboratory News
Social networking services gain acceptance by healthcare organizations
Late last April, during the A/H1N1 influenza outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began using a social networking service called Twitter as a way to provide instant updates on H1N1 cases and developments. By the middle of May, more than 130,000 Twitter users were signed up to receive these updates!
If social networking is not on your clinical laboratory’s radar screen yet, it will soon be. The CDC’s use of Twitter as a valuable resource to instantly communicate news about the H1N1 influenza outbreak demonstrates how people, companies, and government agencies are rapidly finding useful ways to use social networking Web services.
Twitter is a simple concept. Wikipedia defines Twitter as a “free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers).” In the pathology profession, pathologist Bruce Friedman, M.D.—known for his blog Lab Soft News has been “tweeting” for over a year. @LabSoftNews & @Dark_Daily
Probably the best known social networking Web sites in the United States are Facebook and MySpace. For business, LinkedIn has become popular. Nexopia is big in Canada. In Europe, such sites as Bebo, Hi5, and Skyrock have high traffic. For South America, it is social networking Web sites such as Orkut and Hi5.
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Mar 26, 2009 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Digital Pathology Imaging: Coming Soon to a Pathology Group near You!
Will pathologists soon say “sayonara” to glass slides? Plenty of smart money already bets the answer to that question is “yes”! Every pathologist in the United States and abroad should be watching developments in whole slide imaging and digital pathology systems. That’s because digital pathology imaging is a trend with momentum-and it also has the potential to be disruptive, although probably not in the short term.
One powerful sign that digital imaging in pathology is ready to go mainstream is the take-up of digital imaging solutions and digital pathology systems by leading pathology laboratories in the United States and developed countries across the globe. These are academic and tertiary center pathology labs, along with major private pathology companies. As the pathology profession’s first-movers and early adopters, it is these laboratories which set the pace for the entire profession. Their acceptance and growing use of digital imaging and digital pathology systems can be taken as evidence that the current generation of imaging and informatics technologies perform adequately.
However, there is another powerful force propelling digital imaging forward in anatomic pathology. It is the emergence of molecular assays which incorporate digital images and use either computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) or pattern recognition software to help the pathologist make a precise diagnosis. By design, these molecular tests require the pathologist to work from a digital image of the specimen. At The Dark Report‘s second annual Molecular Summit on the Integration of In Vivo and In Vitro Diagnostics, conducted last February in Philadelphia, examples of these types of emerging assays were abundant. (more…)
Aug 25, 2008 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Pathology is changing so quickly that anatomic pathologists need to add new skills to be successful in a clinical and business environment that is now more intensely competitive, particularly in two ways. First, regional and national pathology firms are raising the bar on clinical services in many subspecialties of anatomic pathology. Second, anatomic pathologists must have a better understanding of the business and financial skills required to succeed in today’s laboratory medicine marketplace.
One group on the forefront of these developments is the American Pathology Foundation (APF). “It’s no longer sufficient for a pathologist to come in every day and simply look at slides and make accurate diagnoses of biologic processes,” explained Luke Perkocha, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco and chair of the APF’s conference program committee. “Demands for higher quality clinical services, declining reimbursement, and more intense competition for specimen referrals now require every pathology group practice to have skilled leaders. These pathologist business leaders need to understand the fundamentals of business and management. Just as medicine needs physicians who take the whole patient into account, pathology practices need leaders who take the whole business into account and think on a strategic leadership level.”
To give pathologists and lab directors an opportunity to learn the skills necessary to compete effectively today, the APF is conducting the Pathology Leadership Conference on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Perkocha noted that the day is organized around four specific areas of emphasis, with sessions led by experienced leaders of pathology groups from different areas of the country:
- Marketing. In this session, George Miaoulis, Jr., Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, at the University of Maine, will speak on, “Advanced Concepts in Marketing Pathology Professional Services: It’s Not Just a ‘Lab Test’ Anymore.”
- Finance. Two speakers from large pathology practices will address pathology billing issues. Del Berryman, Executive Director of Brown & Associates, in Houston, Texas, will discuss, “Evaluating and Selecting an Outside Billing Company-What Matters Most.” In the same session, Bob De la Torre, Practice Administrator at Pathology Services of Arizona, in Tempe, will discuss “Insider Expertise on Billing-Do it Yourself-Benchmark your Results.”
- Leadership. Pathology groups need an effective plan for succession, recruiting, and retaining skilled pathologists. Eric A. Hanson, Ph.D., Executive Consultant of Development Dimensions International, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will speak about, “Leadership Succession: Are you ready? What you should be thinking about now.” He will be followed by, Tedd Taskey, Associate Vice President, Pathology, at Slone Partners, in Denver, Colorado, discussing “Recruiting and Retaining Your Next Pathologist: Avoiding Expensive Mistakes.”
- Strategic business planning. Pathology practice mergers, consolidations, and integration of regional services will be discussed by Jeffery B. Drummond, an attorney with the law firm of Jackson Walker LLP, in Dallas, Texas, in his session on “Pathology Practice Mergers: New Imperatives and New Models.” Caitlin Cameron, CEO, of CellNetix Pathology & Laboratories, in Seattle, Washington, will address, “Pathology Practice Mergers: Smart Thinking in the Trenches and the Development of ‘Best Practices’.”
Founded in 1959, the American Pathology Foundation was probably the nation’s first pathology organization with a specific focus on business, management, and financial resources that would allow pathologists to succeed and prosper. Thus, it often has early and valid perspectives on unfolding trends within the anatomic pathology profession.
Perkocha’s message about the need for anatomic pathologists to support leadership skills within the pathology group practice setting is consistent with Dark Daily’s observations about unfolding changes in the anatomic pathology marketplace. With genetic medicine on the horizon, Wall Street and the national lab companies believe anatomic pathology will be hugely profitable because of new molecular assays. Community hospital-based pathology groups must respond to these strategic threats if they are to remain both clinically and financially viable. One way to acquire the necessary leadership and business skills is for pathology groups to send their business-minded partners to conferences such as the APF’s Pathology Leadership Conference.
Related Information:
Jul 28, 2008 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Although officials at Stanford Hospitals & Clinics decline to publicly discuss the pending sale of its laboratory outreach business, Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH), during a conference call with analysts executives last week, confirmed that the sale is imminent.
“I can tell you that we signed a definitive agreement with Stanford in July to acquire their outreach business and we expect that to close on August 1st,” stated LabCorp President and CEO David King, in response to questions from analysts during the phone call which took place on July 24.
Last Friday, in response to press inquiries, a Stanford Hospital spokesman denied claims by union officials that as many as 350 laboratory employees would lose their job as a result of the sale. He stated that only 200 employees had received lay-off notices earlier this spring and that “to date, over half have been hired or offered positions by the purchaser, and we expect that number to grow.”
Even as the LabCorp acquisition of the Stanford Hospital laboratory outreach business moves to a conclusion, there has been no official word on the other major laboratory business known to negotiating a sale. It is believed that Carilion Clinic has narrowed the list of buyers down to just one: LabCorp. Carilion officials had placed their laboratory business up for sale last winter. (See Dark Daily, April 15, 2008.)
Several other laboratory acquisitions are unfolding. One deal just announced is the sale of UroPath, Inc. of Arlington, Texas, to HealthTronics, Inc. , of Austin, Texas. This transaction price is $7.5 million and involves the anatomic pathology condominium laboratory business developed by UroPath. Another laboratory sale is the purchase of Parkway Clinical Laboratories, Inc. of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, by Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ROSG) of Jersey City, New Jersey. Purchase Price is $2.9 million.
Laboratory owners, shareholders, and pathologists with partnerships in pathology group practices who are interested in the laboratory merger & acquisition market will have the opportunity to get up-to-the minute intelligence on these and other laboratory acquisitions. On Wednesday July 30, Dark Daily and The Dark Report will host “Lab and Pathology Mergers & Acquisitions: Essentials that All Lab Owners and Buyers Should Know.” It will be conducted at 1 p.m EDT/12 p.m. CDT/11 a.m. MDT/10 a.m. PDT. Click here to register and get additional information.
Speaking on the audio conference are:
1) Doug Brown, Managing Director of Wachovia Securities, who will provide a concise overview of the factors supporting higher valuations for laboratory assets, along with a discussion of recent noteworthy lab acquisitions, and,
2) Attorney Anthony Konkoly, Esquire, and Member of McDonald Hopkins, based in Cleveland, Ohio. Konkoly will provide useful information about the mistakes lab sellers often make, and how to fix those issues before offering the laboratory for sale. He will also provide laboratory owners with some proven recommendations on how to minimize tax consequences from the sale and maximize the net proceeds from the sale for the lab’s owners.
In closing, the upcoming audio conference will include ample question and answer time for participants, to allow lab owners and sellers personal access to the perspectives and expertise of these two veteran lab industry deal-makers.
THE DARK REPORT AUDIO CONFERENCE DETAILS
DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 2008
TIME: 1 p.m. EDT; 12 p.m. CDT; 11 a.m. MDT; 10 a.m. PDT
PLACE: Your telephone or speakerphone
COST: $245 per dial-in site (unlimited attendance per site)
TO REGISTER: Go Here http://www.darkreport.com/Audio/7.30.08/Laboratory-Pathology-Mergers-Acquisitions-Sell-and-Buy.htm or call 1-800-560-6363 toll-free
