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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Helping Pathologists Use New Technology to Identify and Classify Cancer-Related Cells Research

Nov 7, 2011 | Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Pathology

Enhanced functionality of software promises a giant boost in tissue analysis

Surgical pathologists may have an exciting new tool for identifying and classifying cancer-related cells. Medical researchers at Duke University are demonstrating that “active learning” software developed for finding and recognizing undersea mines can help pathologists identify and classify cancer-related cells.

The Duke research team embedded the active learning software into an existing software toolkit, called FARSIGHT, which is a collection of software modules. FARSIGHT was designed to rapidly analyze images of human tissue collected from laser-scanning microscopes, an article in University of Houston Engineering News explained. It can be scripted to accomplish a variety of automated image analysis tasks, from analyzing brain tissue to studying the effectiveness of medications.

“The results are spectacular,” said Lawrence Carin, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical Engineering Department at Duke, stated in an Office of Naval Research press release. “This could be a game-changer for medical research.”

(more…)

Aetna, Humana, Kaiser, UnitedHealth Put Five Billion Medical Claims into Database for Healthcare Cost, Utilization Research

Oct 28, 2011 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology

Data represents $1 trillion in spending since 2000 and contains clinical laboratory and pathology data

In what may turn out to be a positive development for clinical laboratories and pathology group practices, four of the nation’s five biggest health insurance companies will collaborate and put their medical claims data for billions of transactions into a single data base. Researchers say this database will give them an unprecedented ability to assess utilization trends and the clinical care delivered to patients covered by private health insurance.

The four health insurance companies that will provide data are:

The data provided by each of these health insurers will be submitted to the newly-created Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). This data will consist of more than five billion medical claims dating back to 2000. These claims represent more than $1 trillion in spending. The health insurers are also providing the financing required to launch HCCI. (more…)

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