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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New Point-of-Care Test and Monitor Devices Used by Chronically Ill Patients at Home

More sophistication and performance in new POCT and monitoring systems for home use

Efforts to increase patient home self-testing and monitoring continue to pay off. Two new products for point-of-care (POC) health tests and patient home monitoring recently entered the marketplace. Both systems are devices that enable healthcare professionals to remotely monitor patients with chronic illnesses.

Separately, UK-based The Jaltek Group and Sweden-based Ericsson each introduced wireless monitoring systems worn by patients at home or in healthcare facilities. These systems improve patients’ quality of life by continuously monitoring their vital signs while allowing free movement. These devices also avoid the need for frequent trips to the doctor and may lower health care costs.

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New Managed Care Contract Opportunity for Clinical Labs and Pathology Groups

As health insurers build patient-friendly web sites, they now want all the lab test data

For laboratories wanting to contract with managed care plans, it will soon be “all about the data.” In upcoming contract renewal talks, expect health insurers to have a keen interest in working specifically with those clinical laboratories and pathology groups which can interface and electronically provide lab test data.

Dark Daily is first to identify this important development. It creates an opportunity for local laboratories to contribute added value to payers in their region. There is a specific reason for this increased interest. Health insurers are building information-rich Web sites for their insured beneficiaries. It is now important for them to have laboratory test data that they can use to populate the digital health record of their beneficiaries.
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Tough Economic Times Motivate Clinical Laboratories to Cut Costs by Year End

Upcoming Lab Quality Confab features “world class” cost-cutting methods and experts

Belt-tightening by clinical labs and pathology groups continues as the current economic recession approaches the end of its second full year. To generate additional cash, a significant number of labs report aggressive belt-tightening on the operations side of the business.

This is particularly true of hospital and health system labs. Many have been asked by their administration to reduce spending below budgeted levels in order to allow the parent hospital to accumulate cash. Since baseline budgets for most hospital labs are already established at parsimonious levels, this compounds the difficulty of cutting costs to free up cash for the parent hospital.
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Latest Clinical Findings Shared at European Pathology Congress This Week

3,000 pathologists gather to hear just-published studies and learn about the newest assays

DATELINE: FLORENCE, ITALY—As many as 3,000 pathologists from nations across the globe have gathered in Florence this week for the 22nd Annual European Congress of Pathology. Your Dark Daily Editor is here to give a presentation and learn about the most important new trends in pathology and laboratory medicine.

This large conference offers a rich menu of topics and a multitude of speakers. As to be expected, almost all sessions are about clinical services and advances in diagnostic technologies that enhance the ability of pathologists to diagnose disease. However, the patient safety trend—although not purely a clinical issue—has been a common theme here this week. Few presentations are delivered that don’t include some comments about patient safety.
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