Have Low-cost Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests Changed Census Results in America?

Citizens claiming racial diversity increased by 276% in the 2020 census, leading experts to wonder if racial diversity is increasing or if people are simply electing to identify as such and how this trend will affect healthcare Once again, we see another unexpected consequence to expanded DNA testing done by consumers for their own interests and needs. As NPR recently reported in “The Census Has Revealed a More Multiracial US. One Reason? Cheaper DNA Tests,” the growing trend of ordering...

Penn Medicine Researchers Develop Fast, Accurate, Inexpensive COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Based on Electrochemical Technology

The rapid diagnostic test costs less than $5 per unit and can be adapted for other diseases, the developers say, which opens a slew of possibilities for clinical laboratories Just as the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spurred deployment of new vaccine technology based on messenger RNA (mRNA), the COVID-19 pandemic also could prove to be a watershed for in vitro diagnostics (IVD) innovation in ways that benefit clinical laboratories. In one notable example, researchers at the Perelman School of...

Binary Fountain Survey Finds 70% of Millennials Share Their Healthcare Experiences Online and 70% of Americans Say Online Reviews Influence Their Healthcare Choices

Online reputation management is increasingly becoming a critical function that all providers, including clinical laboratories, must address or risk losing revenue Recent surveys cite growing evidence that Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and online review sites such as Yelp (NYSE:YELP) are swiftly becoming healthcare consumers’ preferred sources for researching doctors, hospitals, medical laboratories, and other medical service providers. Healthcare consumers are using the Internet to review information...

Healthcare Mergers, Physician Consolidation, and Increased Healthcare Utilization Expected to Increase Medical Cost by 6% in 2019

PwC report indicates deal-making may generate long-term savings, but adds to higher medical costs as hospital systems dominate markets and drive up prices Consolidation of big hospital health networks combined with a loss of independent doctor practices has changed the healthcare landscape in recent years, and clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups have been directly impacted. Now, those trends, along with increased access to care, are expected to push employer medical cost up by...

Recent Study Looks at How Consumers Use Wearables That Generate Biometric data and Whether Such Data Might Be Valuable for Physicians and Medical Laboratories

Precision medicine programs can benefit from wearable usage data; however, little information has been collected on personalities and behaviors of the device users Wearables medical devices have the potential to monitor some of the same biomarkers used in medical laboratory tests today. In addition, these mobile technologies can make it possible for clinical laboratories to monitor patients in real time, as well as allow labs to incorporate such into a patient’s historical record of lab test...
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