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
Here is your personal invitation to join us for the Third Annual Lab Quality Confab, scheduled for September 29-30, 2009 at the Atlanta Hilton Hotel.
Lab Quality Confab is now the lab industry’s biggest international gathering about Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement. You’ll be glad to learn that this year’s upcoming Lab Quality Confab is bigger, better, and has exceptional learning opportunities for you, including: (more…)
Goal is to address conflict of interest in clinical studies and CME programs
Each year, clinical laboratories and laboratory medicine associations receive less financial support from industry vendors and suppliers. This is a response to tougher Medicare compliance requirements and tighter ethics guidelines. Now comes a report from the Institute of Medicine calling for further reforms on how companies work with physicians to conduct clinical trials and publicize the findings.
The IOM committee’s report, Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education and Practice, stresses the importance of preventing bias and mistrust upfront, rather than trying to remedy damage after the fact. It focused specifically on financial conflicts of interest involving pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies.
Ex-Senate Majority Leader Predicts Democrats Will Aggressively Push Reform
In recent weeks, laboratory professionals got a ringside seat to hear a true Washington insider discuss key issues in healthcare reform. Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, told lab industry executives and pathologists that Congress faces three significant hurdles as it attempts to reform the healthcare system. The first—and perhaps most significant—hurdle involves costs, he said. Daschle is currently a Senior Policy Advisor at Alston and Bird, a law firm in Washington, D.C.
“Cost is a huge political factor,” stated Daschle during a recent audio conference conducted by the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) on June 24. “Of all of the factors, cost is driving this debate as much if not more than any [other single factor]. We are looking at an investment cost of about $1 trillion to put this new infrastructure in place and that is an issue of great concern.” Daschle explained that the other two hurdles are quality of care and access to healthcare.
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List of recommendations based on UnitedHealth’s extensive database and experience
Every sector of the healthcare industry is offering both Congress and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) advice on how to reform the system to improve quality of care, while reducing costs. Too often, the search for ways to save money that can be redirected to covering uninsured is a game of taking money from one existing health service and shifting it to another.
Recently UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) stepped into this debate over how to save money. In important ways, it is better positioned to provide this advice than most other entities. For example, UnitedHealth Group is the nation’s largest insurer in terms of revenue. UNH funds and organizes care for 70 million Americans. It arranges $115 billion in health care services provided by 5,000 hospitals and 650,000 physicians nationwide. Because of this, UNH’s Center for Modernization and Reform has collected more data on clinical services provided and resulting healthcare outcomes than anyone else.
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Coaching Proves Effective Way To Improve Performance Of Lab Managers and Lab Staff
In the midst of a sustained labor shortage—and facing the impending retirement of highly-experienced baby boomer managers—innovative clinical laboratories and pathology labs are taking special efforts to develop the management and leadership skills of their most promising younger managers. Coaching, rather than mentoring, is more often the preferred approach to achieve this goal.
“Coaching programs in the lab industry are growing in number and effectiveness. This is especially true among the more innovative clinical laboratories in the United States,” observed Jeff Smith, Vice-President of Leadership Development for Slone Partners and Titan Management University. (more…)
