Oct 11, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
GSTS Pathology Inks Pathology Testing Services Pact with KingsPath in London
In the United Kingdom, clinical pathology laboratories are facing major changes in ownership, operation, and how they are funded. One very visible sign of these coming changes is the latest expansion in the nation’s largest public/private pathology testing joint venture that took effect just two weeks ago.
On September 24, Serco Group, plc, announced that KingsPath, the pathology service arm of the King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, was entering a pathology joint venture with GSTS Pathology. This partnership became effective on October 1.
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Mar 10, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Appropriate use of clinical pathology laboratory tests to detect and treat cancer will be a scorecard factor
One primary goal of pay-for-performance programs is to reduce or eliminate the variability of care that physicians provide to their patients. Getting physicians to follow the recommended care protocols 100% of the time with 100% of their patients would contribute to improved outcomes, while reducing overall healthcare costs.
Pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals are well positioned to see this variability in care, since they regularly handle the laboratory test requests from client physicians. Over time, they can recognize the good and bad practice patterns of individual doctors, since it is reflected in both the lab test orders and the laboratory test results for that doctor’s patients.
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Mar 8, 2010 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
CRO Company Adds Anatomic Pathology Testing Services to Serve China’s Pharma and Biotech Industries
Quintiles announced that its Beijing medical laboratory will offer an enhanced menu of anatomic pathology testing services to the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry. With this action, global CRO (clinical research organization) giant Quintiles is responding to the increasing sophistication of the pharmaceutical industry in the world’s most populous country.
Quintiles says the new service will help biopharma firms develop more effective cancer treatments. The lab also offers pathology assay development, digital pathology, and core lab test offerings that help customers comply with China’s restrictions on tissue import/export.
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Dec 23, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Results of retesting 2,856 women were made public last week, putting pathology in the media spotlight
In Quebec, concerns continue about the accuracy of breast cancer testing performed in the province. Last Wednesday, Quebec’s Health Minister, Yves Bolduc released the results from a project that retested breast cancer tissue from 2,856 women. This review involved cases where the original pathology analysis for estrogen receptor (ER) or HER-2 marker status by immunohistochemistry (IHC) had occurred between April 1, 2008, and June 1, 2009. (more…)
Oct 14, 2009 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Dark Daily Commentary: Treat lab testing as a commodity and risk disrupting the entire healthcare system
Once again, the pathology profession is seeing the consequences of the “penny wise-pound foolish” philosophy relentlessly pursued by government health bureaucrats. This time it involves the Auckland District Health Boards in New Zealand. Having signed a cut-rate, back room deal back in 2006 to save about NZ$15 million per year on lab testing (against an annual healthcare budget in the region of more than NZ$2.5 billion), these health officials are reaping a harvest of voluminous problems and deficiencies in the community because of problems with their new monopoly laboratory testing provider.
Many regular Dark Daily readers know that, ever since Labtests began its contract as the exclusive provider of pathology services and lab testing to the greater Auckland region late this summer, there has been chaos across the healthcare system. Labtests is a new business division of Healthscope Limited, (SYD:HSP) a public company based in Melbourne, Australia. See Dark Daily e-briefing “Long-Awaited Lab Contract Transition in New Zealand Happens Next Monday”.
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