Medical and Non-medical Laboratories in UK and Europe Hit by Rising Costs and Supply Shortages Due to High Demand for Testing Services

Apr 6, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, International Laboratory News, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing

Supply chain shortages involving clinical laboratory products may not ease up any time soon, as China’s largest shipping province is once again in COVID-19 lockdown Following two years of extremely high demand, pathology laboratories as well as non-medical labs in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe are experiencing significant shortages of laboratory resources as well as rising costs. That’s according to a recently released survey by Starlab Group, a European supplier of lab products. In its...

Hospitals in United States and Germany Team Up with Matternet and UPS to Make Medical Laboratory Deliveries by Drone the New Normal

Aug 11, 2021 | Clinical Laboratory Information Systems (LIS), Clinical Laboratory Middleware, Informatics, Analytics, Clinical Laboratory/Pathology Automation, Analyzers, Testing Systems, News From Dark Daily

Service uses ‘hub-and-spoke’ routing model to provide rapid delivery of time-and-temperature-sensitive clinical laboratory specimens and supplies Drone delivery service in healthcare is beginning to take flight both here and abroad, with California-based Matternet launching medical drone delivery networks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Berlin, Germany. The successful use of unmanned aircraft to deliver patient specimens has major implications for clinical laboratories. When conditions...

During Pandemic, Clinical Laboratories Should Be Alert for Drug Resistant Infections That Pose High Risk to COVID-19 Patients

Mar 10, 2021 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

On top of everything else during this pandemic, drug-resistant infections are threatening the most vulnerable patients in COVID-19 ICUs New study by researchers at the University of Minnesota highlights the continuing need for microbiologists and clinical laboratories to stay alert for COVID-19 patients with drug-resistant infections. In their study, researchers highlighted CDC statistics about the number of Candida auris (C. auris) infections reported in the United States during 2020, for...

Coronavirus Fraud Takes Many Forms as Federal and Local Officials Continue to Pursue Widespread Cases of Clinical Laboratory Testing Scams

Aug 3, 2020 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Since the pandemic began, federal investigators are specifically looking for patterns of fraud in Medicare claims data for COVID-19 clinical laboratory testing Last month, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced it had been investigating trends in Medicare claims data that could indicate patterns of fraud in the billing for COVID-19 clinical laboratory tests, Modern Healthcare reported. Stretching back to at least March, fraudulent...

In the Field, Clinical Laboratory Specimen Transportation is Being Complicated by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jun 10, 2020 | Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations

Lab leaders who adopt best practices in courier services will help ensure their lab’s supply chains remain secure Hospital and health systems using courier services to transport patients’ biological specimens from doctors’ offices and other locations to clinical laboratories for testing and reporting are finding those services delayed or disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.   Limited office hours, closed physician practices, and the need for drivers to take time for symptom checking on...