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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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Forms Nation’s Largest Clinically Integrated Network that includes Its Own Health Insurance Offering

Clinically integrated networks is one market trend in response to shift away from fee-for-service payment and toward value-based provider reimbursement

One fast-developing trend is that of academic centers forming integrated networks with various providers within a community and a surrounding region. This is related to a movement to establish accountable care organizations (ACOs). But it is also a response to actions by payers to narrow their networks and exclude high-cost providers, such as academic centers.

This business model has a mutual goal. Each integrated network is anchored by an academic medical center and is designed to foster closer interaction between the academic subspecialists and the wider clinical community. For pathologists and clinical lab managers, such integrated provider networks may often encourage participating physicians to send their reference and esoteric medical laboratory test referrals to the academic center and not to the physicians’ primary laboratory provider. (more…)

Bad News for Clinical Pathology Laboratory Workers: Salaries Not Keeping Pace with Cost of Living Increases

Blame it on the recession of 2008-2010, but the findings are not auspicious for medical laboratories

Salaries and compensation paid to medical technologists (MT) and other skilled clinical laboratory professionals are not keeping pace with yearly increases in the cost of living. This is distressing news for every pathologist and clinical laboratory manager concerned about the constantly growing shortage of MTs and Clinical Laboratory Scientists to staff the nation’s medical laboratories.

For example, one recent national salary survey determined that 24% of laboratorians received no salary increase in 2010! About 42% received an annual increase of between 2% and 4%. Another 20% received just 2% or less. This survey also reported that 28% of medical laboratory professionals received bonuses. These bonuses were based on their salaries or days off in lieu of extra pay. Overall, however, since 2008, this salary survey concluded that salaries for clinical laboratory professionals have increased since 2008.

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British Researchers Working on a Way to Use Cell Phones to Perform Pathology Tests for STDs

Clinical laboratory-on-a-chip would cost under £1 and allow young people to test themselves for sexually-transmitted diseases



Some wags call a new diagnostic testing concept the “pee in the cell phone” pathology lab test. The humor is directed at cell phone-based medical laboratory tests under development in the hopes that this confidential and private diagnostic test method will encourage more young people to undergo testing for sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs).

Newspapers in the United Kingdom are reporting on a research project—funded in part by the government—to develop STD tests that can be run on a USB-size chip that is inserted into a smart phone or a personal computer.

This project is a response to the significant rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people. In the United Kingdom, the rate of new infections for herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea are rising to record levels.

Clinical Laboratory Test on a Cell Phone or Personal Computer

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Dartmouth Researchers Say that Doctors Now Work Fewer Hours Than Lawyers



Trend may affect workforce needs of clinical pathology laboratories, according to JAMA study

Doctors now work fewer hours than lawyers! This finding has serious implications for the healthcare industry in coming years. Clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups  will want to understand how this trend might affect their service relationships with physicians.

Researchers determined that—for the first time—doctors are working fewer hours than lawyers. They predict this trend could lead to doctor shortages as more and more baby boomer physicians retire. This study was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

In an interview with a U.S. News and World Report reporter, the study’s lead author, Douglas Staiger, Ph.D., Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire stated, “This is an unprecedented decline that we haven’t seen before in physicians, and you don’t see it for other professions, like lawyers.”

Three Decades of Census Data on Doctors’ Work Hours

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Medical Home Concept Poised to be National Model, May Increase Utilization of Clinical Pathology Laboratory Testing

Medicare to do National Demonstration Project Involving Medical Homes

Medical home pilot projects are being closely watched by pathologists and clinical laboratory managers. This is a new model of patient-centered care which has important advocates among primary care practitioners. If the medical home concept catches on, it may require clinical laboratories to provide laboratory testing services in a different way.

In southeastern Pennsylvania, a medical-home pilot project is taking a “do-it-yourself” approach to managing chronic illnesses. This project is viewed by some as a precursor to a national model. The innovative program, which combines the Wagner Chronic Care Model with the patient-centered medical home concept, provides physicians with resources to improve patient–doctor communications. The pilot project is also designed to educate willing patients on how to self-manage their chronic illnesses.
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