DICOM in Pathology

In August, Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) Standard Supplement 145 (aka – Whole Slide Microscopic Images) was passed.  This standard aims to allow pathologists to retrieve and manage whole-slide images and associated information from any digital imaging system, regardless of the manufacturer.  This will have considerable impact on pathologists and system vendors over time.   Check…

Physicians Moving Away From Private Practice

There appears to be a national trend of physicians moving away from private practice and into salaried positions at large health systems.  What role does Heath Care Reform play in this trend? Check out this recent Arkansas Business article Health Care Reform, Other Factors Drive Doctors Away from Private Practice.  It describes this trend from…

HL7, Labs and Meaningful Use

Came across this CAP Today Newsbyte that provides some detail on HL7 standards that will be part of the federal government’s final rule on standards and certification under the ARRA Act of 2009.  Below is a link to the Newsbyte and an excerpt…  HL7 standards and guides in federal meaningful use rule Health Level Seven International, a…

Meaningful Use and Pathology Labs

You don’t have to look very far to find information, blog posts, tweets, etc. on EHR/EMR Meaningful Use (MU).  It seems a bit more difficult to find information on how this is affecting Pathology Labs.  We thought it might be helpful to start passing on information we come across on this topic.  Here is a link to start with… CAP…

Pathology Labs Need Marketing Help

Are you a pathologist, lab tech, clinician or a manager at a laboratory?  If so, what is your lab’s biggest differentiator?  If we took a poll you would find one common response – SERVICE.  Service level is where small to mid-sized path labs compete against the Mega labs.  This includes fast result turnaround,  comprehensive supply distribution, advanced customer service,…

Keep an Eye on Digital Pathology

In a recent post, we talked about the acquisition of BioImagene by Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. (a member of Roche Group).  BioImagene is a leader in the field of digital pathology and workflow analysis.  Is this acquisition a sign of more to come in the area of digital pathology? The digital pathology movement is certainly something to…

6 Factors: Choosing LIS-to-EMR Partner

With the increase in EMR adoption, we’ve discussed in previous posts the importance of the pathology lab and the huge wave of LIS-to-EMR interfacing that is on the horizon.  As path labs embark on filling these needs, there will be important decisions to be made.  Do we hire IT expertise internally?  Or do we outsource?  If we outsource, what…

Impact of EMR adoption on the Pathology Lab

I’m a big fan of the folks at Dark Daily and got…hmmm how should I phrase this…FIRED UP when I read their most recent article called Sales of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems to Physicians Will Double By End of 2012.  Frankly, the article covers a perfect example of why we founded Pathagility.  The overarching theme of the article is…

Migration vs. Wholesale Replacement in the Lab

In working with pathology labs for the last several years, one common theme we hear related to their system environments is that work-arounds are a reality.  They continually look for ways to serve their referring physicians and healthcare partners better and with more efficiency by making investments in technology.  The issue that many are running into is that while they…

Waves of Disruption – Healthcare & Cloud Computing

I came across a great blog called Cloud Computing’s Stormy Future this morning by John Hagel III and John Seely Brown.  John and John are co-chairmen of the Deloitte LLP Center for the Edge, and have written several books focused on technology and innovation.  Their post talks about the disruptive potential of cloud computing and outlines four distinctive,…