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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Big News in Clinical Laboratory Informatics as Roper Industries Agrees to Pay $1.4 Billion to Acquire Sunquest

Medical labs and pathology groups using Sunquest LIS products likely to see positive changes from Sunquest’s fourth change in ownership since 2001

In what is likely to be the biggest deal in clinical laboratory and pathology informatics for this year, Roper Industries, Inc. (NYSE: ROP), of Sarasota, Florida, will acquire Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., of Tucson, Arizona. The purchase price is an impressive $1.42 billion dollars and the deal was announced on Monday this week.

Roper Industries will get a lot for its money. Sunquest holds a significant share of the nation’s market for laboratory information systems (LIS). Sunquest has also built a substantial market share in anatomic pathology informatics, anchored by its CoPath and PowerPath products.

Sales Price of $1.42 Billion for Sunquest and Its Clinical Lab Software

What some may consider an eye-popping sales price of $1.42 billion for Sunquest demonstrates that investor interest in all aspects of the clinical laboratory testing marketplace remains strong. In its second quarter conference call, executives at Roper Industries told the financial analysts that, during 2013, they expect Sunquest to generate $140 million in EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization). If true, that would indicate that the sales price is based upon approximately a 10-times multiple of Sunquest’s EBIDTA. (more…)

Ranking Top 10 Hospital EMR Vendors by Number of Installed Systems

Clinical pathology laboratories will keep busy interfacing their LISs to these EMRs

Tis the season of electronic health records (EHR), now that both hospitals and physicians can qualify to earn incentives from the federal government when they implement these solutions and meet “meaningful use” criteria.

It is possible for individual hospitals to receive incentives totaling as much as $2 million for implementing a certified EHR. This is powerful motivation for cash-strapped hospitals. For that reason, pathologists and clinical laboratory managers of hospital laboratories can expect to be busy ensuring that their laboratory information system (LIS) interfaces properly with the EMR of their parent hospital.

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Integration of Pathology and Radiology to Be Debated at Lab InfoTech Summit 2007

With both Siemens and General Electric placing big bets on in vitro diagnostics during the past nine months, there is much speculation about plans to integrate pathology with radiology. Bruce Friedman, M.D., plans to tackle this subject at his fourth annual Lab InfoTech Summit, scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on March 5-7 at the Venetian Casino Resort Hotel.

Dark Daily asked Dr. Friedman about his thoughts on what would be the most significant change in laboratory information technology in the coming years. “The trend of merging and convergence of the clinical pathology laboratory with radiology is creating a lot of interest,” replied Friedman, “I will be speaking about it at the conference, along with a few other speakers touching on the idea.” Friedman has blogged about The Convergence of Pathology/Lab Medicine with Radiology in his LabSoftNews Blog on multiple occasions and believes it is the next necessary step in laboratory information technology.

Friedman is recognized as one of the leading authorities on clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology informatics. His Lab InfoTech Summit is designed for all clinical laboratory professionals, including pathologists, medical technologists, lab information system mangers, and lab business managers.

To complement the speakers making three days of presentations about important topics in laboratory information management solutions, the conference features two pre-conference workshops. One is titled “Assessing and Improving the Value of Lab Services” and the other is titled “Rules in the Clinical Laboratory: Design, Validation, and Process.” The use of rules in the clinical labs seems to be taking hold for functions such as autoverification of test results because this allows medical technologists to attend to higher level tasks than validating outgoing test results. Both these workshops are intended for lab professionals who want to actively participate in discussion about these topics. They will feature lecture, discussion, Q&A sessions, and networking opportunities.

Friedman went on to say that the Summit “will feature 43 exhibitors of lab software and allied products and more than 200 paid registrants. It is the largest specialized exhibition of its type in the US and is growing rapidly each year.” The Summit provides an excellent opportunity for laboratory professionals assess, compare, and contrast multiple laboratory software solutions. Conference attendees will be able to meet with multiple vendors, face-to-face, in one, convenient location.

The 2007 Lab InfoTech Summit will enable laboratory professionals to immerse themselves in the latest trends in laboratory information management for days. Don’t let this opportunity for learning and networking pass you by!

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