Sep 24, 2018 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
It’s the next wave in the long-running trend of hospital laboratory consolidation, as the need to trim costs and support thriving medical laboratory outreach programs continues
There’s an important new development in the hospital/health system sector of the clinical laboratory industry that continues the longstanding trend of consolidating multi-site lab operations. It is to rationalize and standardize medical laboratory operations across all lab sites within the health system. Effectively, this standardization trend represents the next cycle of clinical laboratory consolidation.
One recent example of this trend can be found at Atrium Health, the hospital health network based in Charlotte, N.C. (formerly known as Carolinas HealthCare System until earlier this year). Becker’s Hospital Review states that Atrium Health is the “seventh largest nonprofit system in the country based on number of acute-care hospitals (35).”
Creating Standardized Medical Laboratory Testing Services at Multiple Sites
Over the past four years, the clinical laboratory team at Atrium Health has worked to design, build, and operate a new, state-of-the-art core laboratory. At the same time, there were sequential projects to integrate the lab testing services and operations of nine other medical lab sites within the health system to better align the test menu, lab instruments, and workflow at these sites with the activities of the core laboratory.
According to Modena Henderson, MHA, the Vice President of Laboratory Services at Atrium Health, in an interview with Dark Daily, there were multiple primary goals in this project to rationalize and standardize lab testing at all the participating lab sites. They include:
- Standardizing lab test methodologies, reference ranges, and test menu;
- Standardizing analyzers and test platforms across all labs;
- Using Lean, Six Sigma, and other process improvement methods to streamline workflow and reduce test turnaround time;
- Improve productivity of lab staff;
- Increase quality while reducing or eliminating unproductive activities;
- Using real-time analytics middleware to keep lab management informed on a daily basis, and,
- Collaborating with emergency departments, wards, and outreach physicians to deliver more value with clinical lab testing services.
Using the ‘Three Ps of Project Management’ Approach in Health System Labs
The centerpiece of this program of lab rationalization and consolidation was the design and build-out for a new core clinical laboratory facility. Henderson said her team followed the principals of the “Three Ps of Project Management”—People, Process, Performance—to model the new lab facility, then guide how it was constructed and brought into daily clinical service.
“The Atrium Health laboratory regionalization project is an example of the next step that many innovative hospital laboratories are taking,” stated Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report. “Every lab has the same double challenge. First is financial. Hospital lab budgets are shrinking as growth in inpatient admissions slows. Outreach revenues are declining as Medicare and private payers slash lab test prices.
“Second, labs must come up with the capital needed to acquire and deploy the expensive and sophisticated new genetic and molecular tests that physicians and patients want,” he continued. “Hospital and health network labs must offer these new tests to keep their parent organizations at the cutting edge of clinical care.
Clinical Labs See Value in Standardizing Test Methodologies, Menus
“Thus, it is logical for the clinical labs of health networks to begin the process of rationalizing and standardizing their test menus, methodologies, and analyzers at every site within the system that performs medical lab testing,” emphasized Michel. “This is a development that we have watched gather momentum.”
Keynote Speaker Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report and Dark Daily will discuss how clinical laboratories of hospitals and health networks are rationalizing and standardizing their medical laboratory testing services to achieve the goals of managing lab costs, boosting quality, and increasing lab outreach revenue. The 12th annual Lab Quality Confab takes place on Oct. 9-10, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. (Photo copyright: The Dark Report.)
Michel offered two examples of sizable programs to rationalize and standardize clinical lab tests and services across a large health system. One is in Michigan, at Ascension Health. The other is in the Canadian Province of Québec. Both are large and ambitious undertakings, both in the number of lab sites involved and the large geography served by these clinical laboratories.
Consolidation Project in Québec involves 123 Clinical Lab Facilities
Québec’s provincial health system wants to consolidate 123 clinical laboratories in the province into 11 groups (clusters) of labs. Each lab group, or cluster, will have a core lab and rapid response labs. Test menus and methodologies will be standardized throughout the province. In an interview with The Dark Report, Ralph Dadoun, PhD, Project Director for Optilab Québec, plans to accomplish the consolidation without adding costs.
In Michigan, Ascension’s clinical lab leadership is working to integrate and standardize the labs that are operated by seven system organizations. This includes 14 hospitals and 18 existing laboratories located throughout the entire State of Michigan. In an interview with The Dark Report, Carlton Burgess, MSM, Vice President of Laboratory Services at Ascension Health’s St. John Providence Clinical Pathology Laboratory in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., stated that the goal is to have all the labs in the state work together in a seamless, integrated fashion.
Regional Lab Integration at North Carolina’s Biggest Health System
“To achieve this, the labs will be linked in four regions—a process we describe as regional integration,” explained Burgess. “Each region has a core lab and rapid response labs and each region will be responsible for building lab volume through increased outreach testing. In addition to changing how labs serve each region, our statewide standardization project has three objectives:
- “Repatriate existing send-out lab testing back into Michigan;
- “Establish standard test menus for each facility; and,
- “Renew each lab’s focus on growing lab outreach business.
“Every lab administrator and pathologist working in hospital and health network laboratories should be tracking this new trend of regionalization and standardization of hospital labs,” observed Michel. “That’s because labs already moving down this path are setting new standards for the entire clinical laboratory industry. This goes beyond cost and productivity, because these labs are putting the systems in place that will allow them to deliver more value to physicians and thus be paid more for that value by private health insurers.”
Innovative Lab Leaders to Speak at Lab Quality Confab in Atlanta
Lab leaders from Ascension Health will be keynote speakers at the upcoming 12th Annual Lab Quality Confab that takes place on October 9-10, 2018, at the Hyatt Hotel in Atlanta. They will also conduct multiple learning sessions to share their successes and lessons learned in building a new core laboratory and using that as a foundation to rationalize and standardize test methods, reference ranges, menus, lab automation, and analyzers at every clinical lab facility in the Ascension Health system. Sessions by Ascension Health lab leaders include:
- Leveraging Lean to become a Best-in-Class Lab Performer: How We Built and Automated a New Core Lab while Integrating Lab Operations and Helping Staff Embrace a New Culture; Modena Henderson, Vice President, Laboratory Services, and, Steven Harris, Assistant Vice President, Atrium Health.
- Achieving Standardized, High-Performance Lab Testing Services at Multiple Hospitals Using Lean Methods and Effective Engagement with Lab Staff and Nurses; Gary Catarella, MBA, MT(ASCP), Assistant Vice President, Hospital Operations, Atrium Health.
- Lessons We’ve Learned in Our Step-by-Step Journey to Transform Lab Operations and Integrate Testing across All Sites: Engaging Staff, Sustaining Change, Working with Vendors and Consultants—Interactive Roundtable Discussion; Modena Henderson, Vice President, Laboratory Services; and, Steven Harris, Assistant Vice President, Atrium Health.
Using Lean, Six, Sigma, ISO 15189 in Clinical Laboratory Operations
Lab Quality Confab this year features 60 speakers and 40 presentations from lab administrators, pathologists, and other lab managers on their successes and innovations using Lean, Six Sigma, ISO 15189, and other process management methods. You can view the full agenda here (or copy and paste this URL into your web browser: https://www.labqualityconfab.com/agenda).
This year’s Lab Quality Confab is on track to be the largest in its 12-year history. Limited spaces are still available. To ensure your place, register today at: https://www.labqualityconfab.com/register (or copy and paste this URL into your web browser: https://www.labqualityconfab.com/register).
Also, you can bring your lab team and make this Lab Quality Confab a group learning opportunity. When you bring four or more from your organization, each can register for $695 for this two-day learning event. One benefit you’ll gain from bringing your team is that it will give them the knowledge, the tools, and the confidence to help your lab reduce costs without compromising quality, while supporting sustained revenue growth from your hospital lab’s successful outreach program.
—Michael McBride
Related Information:
Full Agenda and Other Details for 12th Annual Lab Quality Confab
To Register for 12th Annual Lab Quality Confab
10 Things to Know about Atrium Health, Formerly Carolinas HealthCare System
Québec’s Laboratory Consolidation Plan Aims to Save $13.5 Million: Optilab Québec to move 123 labs into 11 lab groups
Michigan’s Ascension to Standardize Labs Throughout the State: Goals Are Common Test Methods, Menus, Practices
Sep 25, 2017 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Payers are cutting reimbursements for anatomic pathology services, making it essential for every pathology group to understand its financial present and future
Certain pathology business leaders are warning their colleagues that the era of private pathology group practice domination of the anatomic pathology marketplace is about to end. The only question is how rapidly the clinical and financial foundations of smaller pathology group practices erodes to the point where these groups are unable to generate adequate reimbursement to sustain the practice and the incomes of the individual pathologists.
However, along with this bad news comes a note of optimism. There is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the anatomic pathology profession to take ownership of genetic testing and precision medicine—the most important diagnostic technologies to emerge in the past 100 years. The danger for anatomic pathologists is how to successfully transition from the private group practice model to the new clinical practice models that deliver genetic testing and precision medicine services.
Why Pathologists Are Making Less Money Today
The economic plight of private practice pathology is familiar to all pathologists. During the past decade, reimbursement for technical component (TC) and professional component (PC) services was regularly beat down by payers. For example, pathologists lost the TC grandfather clause in 2012, which immediately caused many histology labs to go from profit to loss. (See Dark Daily, “In Fixing Physician Medicare Pay, Congress Enacts Yet Another Cut in Clinical Laboratory Test Fee Schedule,” February 12, 2012.)
Similarly, over the past 10 years, each time private health insurers negotiated the renewal of a managed care contract with a pathology group practice, they aggressively cut the prices they paid for anatomic pathology services. And the corresponding explosive growth of narrow provider networks exacerbated the financial erosion from lower prices. Many smaller pathology groups found themselves excluded from these networks, causing them to lose access to the large numbers of private-pay patients served by these networks.
“It is important for every surgical pathologist and every pathology practice administrator to recognize that they have the ability to negotiate much more favorable terms and increased network access with health insurers, but only if they come to the negotiating table with the right information and techniques,” observed Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of Dark Daily and The Dark Report. “Pathology groups showing strong financial performance today know these techniques and strategies. When negotiating managed care contracts, they achieve higher reimbursements, more favorable terms, and in-network status.”
Proven Ways to Help Pathology Groups Protect and Increase Revenue
Pathologists who would like to protect their groups’ revenue and bolster their partners’ income have the opportunity to learn and master the most effective managed care contracting techniques and strategies. Three nationally prominent experts in pathology business and operations are participating in a special webinar, titled “How Payers Are Repricing Anatomic Pathology: Your Financial Present and Your Pathology Group’s Future,” which takes place on Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. EDT.
Pictured above left to right are Mick Raich, President and CEO, Vachette Pathology; Jeffrey Pearson, MD, System Medical Director, Bronson Hospital Laboratories; and, Christopher Jahnle, co-founder and Managing Director, Haverford Healthcare Advisors. The three distinguished speakers will share expertise and experiences you can use to protect your pathology group’s revenue while preserving partner income. (Photo copyright: Dark Daily.)
First to speak on this webinar is Mick Raich, founder and CEO of Vachette Pathology, of Blissfield, Mich. He will discuss how Medicare and private insurers are using new pathology and lab repricing models to slash reimbursement and control utilization of expense pathology testing services. Raich will explain why payers are engaging such third-party companies as AIM Specialty Health of Chicago, Avalon Healthcare Solutions of Tampa, Fla., BeaconLBS of Montvale, N.J., and InformedDNA of St. Petersburg, Fla., to develop coverage guidelines, issue preauthorization, and manage the network of labs and pathology groups allowed to provide services.
Raich will further explain what pathologists must know about the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) physician payment program, with its MIPS—Merit-based Incentive Payment System—that is designed to pay bonuses or assess penalties each year, depending on how individual physicians perform against their own operational and clinical benchmarks.
Insidious Methods Payers Use to ‘Take Back’ by Underpaying Certain Pathology Claims
Another topic that Raich will address can mean significantly greater collected revenue for your pathology group. He will explain the new phenomenon of how private payers are auditing error rates on claims, then taking back those overpayments by underpaying the labs or pathology groups on claims for specific CPT codes (current procedural terminology codes). Raich will show how your billing/collection team can detect these claims and recover full payment from the payers.
How One Pathology Group Practice Doubled in Size
The second important financial topic of the webinar involves the merger, acquisition, and consolidation of private pathology group practices. You’ll learn why many group practices are losing their independence due to declining revenue or because their parent hospital was acquired by a health system. Pathologist Jeffrey Pearson, MD, is the System Medical Director at Bronson Hospital Laboratories in Kalamazoo, Mich. He is also a partner and President of Pathology Services of Kalamazoo, PC.
During his tenure at Bronson, Pearson helped facilitate the acquisition and assimilation of two hospital laboratories and one for-profit laboratory. His pathology practice has doubled in size and developed a high degree of subspecialization. Each time, the pathology group associated with the acquired entity had to be integrated with his health system’s existing pathology group practice. Experiences will be shared regarding:
· How to assimilate acquired laboratories;
· Practice utilization management; and
· Leveraging success to grow the practice and obtain favorable part A contracts.
Understanding How to Increase the Value of Your Anatomic Pathology Group
To round out the financial techniques and strategies you and your pathology practice administrator can use to protect your group’s revenue and boost partner income, the webinar’s third expert will discuss the latest developments in pathology practice mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations.
Christopher Jahnle is co-founder and Managing Director of Haverford Healthcare Advisors in Paoli, Penn., a suburb of Philadelphia. Over the past decade, his firm has represented Aurora Diagnostics of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., as a purchaser of private pathology group practices.
Jahnle will describe the specific characteristics of a private pathology practice that have the highest value to buyers in today’s marketplace. You’ll understand how your pathology group’s unique mix of managed care contracts, hospital/health system relationships, and sub-specialist expertise will be valued by a potential acquirer or merger partner.
Jahnle will share case study examples to help you identify useful things your pathology group can do to make it more profitable and increase its value. This is essential knowledge if your group’s pathologists are considering such strategies as:
· “Should we merge with a bigger pathology group?”
· “Should we sell our pathology group?” and
· “Should we add subspecialists and pursue more hospital contracts?”
All three expert speakers have practical knowledge that you can use to protect your pathology group’s revenue while preserving partner income. It is why this webinar is timely and a “must attend” for you, your pathology practice administrator, and your pathology group’s legal and financial consultants.
Full details about this important webinar are at this link (or copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://pathologywebinars.com/how-payers-are-repricing-anatomic-pathology-your-financial-present-and-your-pathology-groups-future/).
—Michael McBride, Managing Editor
Related Information:
How Payers Are Repricing Anatomic Pathology: Your Financial Present and Your Pathology Group’s Future
In Fixing Physician Medicare Pay, Congress Enacts Yet Another Cut in Clinical Laboratory Test Fee Schedule
Aug 14, 2017 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Pathologists and practice administrators should prepare a strategy and a timetable for their group’s acquisition and deployment of a digital pathology system and whole slide imaging
Anatomic pathology is a medical specialty at the brink of a major technological disruption. FDA clearance of the first digital pathology system and whole slide imaging (WSI) for primary diagnosis means that every surgical pathologist will soon need to decide when to adopt this technology to avoid declines in group revenue and pathologist compensation.
Not in decades have pathologists faced a comparable dual threat. One threat is the use of digital pathology and WSI for primary diagnosis in ways that deliver faster answers to referring physicians, while creating new business models for anatomic pathology groups. At greatest risk from this technology, however, may be sub-specialist pathologists who depend on specialty referrals and second-opinion consults.
Second Threat Is How Digital Pathology Can Erode Pathology Group’s Revenue
The second threat is how failure to adopt digital pathology and WSI at the right time in the market cycle will put a pathology group’s revenue at risk, while causing pathologist compensation to erode. Pathology groups that are quick to adopt digital pathology and whole slide imaging are expected to gain clinical advantage and additional case referrals, while pathology groups that defer adoption will probably lose market share—and the revenue associated with those lost case referrals.
How Fast Will Pathology Groups Act to Implement Digital Pathology?
It was last April when the FDA cleared the first digital pathology system and whole slide imaging for use in the primary diagnosis of biopsied tissue and resection cases. With clearance to market of the Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution (PIPS), it is expected that other companies will submit their digital pathology systems for FDA review as well. As that happens, the market for digital pathology systems will expand and become more competitive.
“How fast pathologists in the United States adopt digital pathology for primary diagnosis is the big question,” observed Robert L. Michel, Editor-In-Chief of The Dark Report, Dark Daily’s sister publication. “We’ve interviewed pathologists at several community pathology group practices who currently use digital pathology and whole slide images for things like tumor boards, second opinion consults within and without their practice, and teaching purposes. They have strong opinions about how quickly they want their group to begin using a digital pathology system for primary diagnosis.
“For example, Advanced Pathology Associates (APA) in Rockville, Md., is a group with 15 pathologists who cover seven hospitals,” stated Michel. “APA was the community pathology group site for the study data Philips needed to submit with its FDA pre-market application. They had the system for the nine-month trial and used it to evaluate 500 cases and thousands of glass slides and WSIs. APA returned the system at the conclusion of the study, but pathologists at APA are already in the process of acquiring their own digital pathology system to use for primary diagnosis.”
Anatomic Pathology Group Went Hands-on with Digital Pathology System
In a story The Dark Report published about Advanced Pathology Associates, pathologist Nicolas Cacciabeve, MD, APA’s Managing Partner, commented, “Because we had the opportunity to be hands-on with this digital pathology system, we saw how it changes daily workflow, improves the ergonomics of reading cases, and contributes to increased productivity.”
Cacciabeve identified the immediate benefits APA will accrue after it acquires its own digital pathology system and begins to use it for primary diagnosis. “[Having a digital pathology system] … also opens new opportunities for our pathologists to add more value—whether it is handling more complex cases through real-time consultation, or through better data management and image retrieval, or freeing up pathologists to get out of the lab to collaborate with clinicians.”
Pathologist Clive Taylor, MD, Considers DP’s Clearance to Be ‘Huge’
The FDA’s clearance of the first digital pathology system was called “huge” by noted pathologist Clive Taylor, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (where he served as Chair of Pathology from 1984 to 2009) in an interview with The Dark Report published on July 17.
“The FDA’s clearance of this system for primary diagnosis is huge,” stated Taylor. “… I say that because digital slide scanners in many pathology departments around the country are used secondarily. For example, a pathologist will look at a glass biopsy slide today and think, ‘I should scan this to get a score, or an accurate count, or to send it to a colleague in Washington or London or some place.’ In that sense, pathology labs are using whole slide imaging for secondary purposes.
“The FDA clearance of whole slide imaging for primary diagnostics will foster changes in anatomic pathology departments that will improve the accuracy and speed of diagnosis and drastically reduce the time it takes to get second opinions and to reach a primary diagnosis,” Taylor predicted.
Pathologists, Practice Administrators Need a Strategy for Digital Pathology
Because of the potential for digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging to be disruptive to both the clinical practice of pathology and the revenue and income earned by pathologists, it is recommended that pathology practice administrators and pathologist business leaders of their respective groups understand this new technology and how early-adopter pathology labs are using it to add value to their diagnostic services while generating new streams of revenue.
The four expert speakers for this critical Dark Daily webinar are (clockwise from upper left): Keith Kaplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Corista, Concord, Mass.; Liron Pantanowitz, MD, Professor of Pathology and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh; Isaac R. Grindeland, MD, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Incyte Diagnostics, Spokane Valley, Wash.; and Dan Angress, for ClearPath Derm of Dayton, Ohio, and President of Angress Consulting, LLC, Los Angeles, Calif. (Photo copyright: Dark Daily.)
To give practice administrators and interested pathologists this comprehensive knowledge of digital pathology and whole slide imaging, Dark Daily is presenting a special webinar, titled, “Primary Diagnosis with Digital Pathology Systems and Whole Slide Images: What Every Pathologist Needs to Know, Why It Will Be Disruptive, and How Innovative Pathology Groups Are Already Making Money with DP.”
This critical webinar takes place on Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 1:00 PM EDT.
Essential Knowledge about Digital Pathology Systems, Whole Slide Imaging
The webinar is organized to help all pathology groups, academic pathology departments, and pathology laboratories understand:
- The current capabilities of the technology for digital pathology and WSI;
- How these technologies are evolving in ways that add functionality and improve productivity; and—most importantly,
- Two case studies of pathology groups already using digital pathology and WSI imaging to add clinical value and develop new sources of revenue.
Speaking during this webinar will be:
- Keith Kaplan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Corista, Concord, Mass.: For nearly a decade, Kaplan has been one of the leading commentators on the use of digital technologies and Web 2.0 capabilities in pathology. He will provide strategic context about why the FDA’s clearance of a digital pathology system for use in primary diagnosis is a trigger event for all pathology groups.
- Liron Pantanowitz, MD, Professor of Pathology and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.: An internationally known expert on the use of digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging, Pantanowitz will give webinar participants a concise understanding of the technology’s current capabilities; how it is being used at UPMC; the lessons learned in the use of digital pathology to support UPMC’s international pathology collaborations; and what technology advances to expect in the near future.
- Dan Angress, for ClearPath Derm of Dayton, Ohio, and President of Angress Consulting, LLC, Los Angeles, Calif.: This is a fascinating case study of how ClearPath Derm is using digital pathology capabilities to support added value services for its referring physicians that, most importantly, generate additional revenue for the pathology group.
- Isaac R. Grindeland, MD, Gastrointestinal Pathology, Incyte Diagnostics, Spokane Valley, Wash.: This regional pathology super-group has 40 pathologists, four anchor locations, and contracts with multiple hospitals. Grindeland will explain how Incyte leverages its digital pathology capabilities to improve productivity and performance, while better meeting the needs of its hospital and physician clients.
Preparing Pathology Groups for Disruptive Potential of DB, WSI
Because of the potential for digital pathology systems and whole slide imaging to disrupt many long-established clinical practices, while at the same time creating new financial winners and losers among the nation’s pathology groups, it is imperative that pathologists and practice administrators gain the necessary knowledge to prepare their groups. Armed with these insights, they then can develop timely and appropriate strategies to ensure their group’s clinical excellence and financial sustainability moving forward.
For details about the August 17 webinar and to register, use this link (or copy this URL and paste it into your browser: https://ddaily.wpengine.com/webinar/primary-diagnosis-with-digital-pathology-systems-and-whole-slide-images-what-every-pathologist-needs-to-know-why-it-will-be-disruptive-and-how-innovative-pathology-groups-are-already-making-money-w).
—Michael McBride
Related Information:
Primary Diagnosis with Digital Pathology Systems and Whole Slide Images: What Every Pathologist Needs to Know, Why It Will Be Disruptive, and How Innovative Pathology Groups Are Already Making Money with DP
FDA Allows Marketing of First Whole Slide Imaging System for Digital Pathology
Whole Slide Imaging In Pathology: Advantages, Limitations, and Emerging Perspectives
Digital Images and the Future of Digital Pathology, Liron Pantanowitz, MD
Philips Awarded FDA Clearance for Digital Pathology Solution for Primary Diagnostic Use
What Does FDA Approval of a Digital Pathology System for Use in Primary Diagnosis Mean for the Pathology Industry? New Dark Daily Webinar to Provide Answers and Insights for Pathologists and Pathology Practice Administrators
Dark Daily Story on Pathology 2.0 and Digital Pathology Blog
Nov 21, 2016 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
Topics discussed ranged from ongoing cutbacks in funding for healthcare services, and integration of clinical care to growing use of genetic testing in support of precision medicine
DATELINE: Sydney, NSW, Australia—There were 200 leaders in healthcare, medicine, and pathology gathered here last Wednesday to explore a hot topic: the unfolding disruption to healthcare in Australia. The themes of the conference will be familiar to Dark Daily readers across the globe.
These themes included:
• Inadequate funding to pay hospitals, physicians, and medical laboratories, given the steady increase in demand for healthcare services throughout Australia.
• Expanded use of genetic testing and next-generation gene sequencing as medical laboratories acquire the instruments and expertise necessary to make such tests available to physicians.
• How primary care physicians are responding to the demands of an aging population, the increased incidence of chronic disease, and the potential to use information technologies to improve patient care. (more…)
Oct 21, 2016 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
With record attendance of 300 Lean-Six Sigma experts, this week’s conference was a high-energy event that provided medical lab professionals and pathologists with case studies of how to improve lab operations and contribute to better patient care
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS—Yesterday was the conclusion of the 10th Annual Lab Quality Confab, which showcased innovators in clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. Attendees traveled here from six different countries.
One new trend that emerged from this year’s presentations is that progressive medical labs are beginning to direct their Lean-Six Sigma, and process improvement efforts toward projects designed to add value to client physicians and hospitals. These projects include added-value features of benefit to patients and health insurers.
How Clinical Laboratories Are Succeeding with Lean Projects
This is a shift from prior years. At earlier Lab Quality Confabs, most speakers were describing how their labs were using Lean and quality management methods to improve workflow within their labs, increase the productivity of automation and staff, reduce errors, and cut costs. This was an “inside-the-lab” mindset.
That was not the case here in New Orleans this week. Yes, there were plenty of sessions where workflow redesign, productivity improvement, and cost reduction were discussed. But, at the same time, a significant number of labs doing presentations were describing projects that took the lab team outside of their laboratory to engage with physicians and nurses specifically to help them use clinical laboratory test data in ways that would improve patient care, reduce length-of-stay for hospital patients, and trigger worthwhile reductions of the cost of care. This is an “outside-the-lab” mindset. (more…)
