CVS's Grand Strategy for HealthHUBs and Aetna Becoming Apparent
In a previous blog note, I reported that CVS was launching a new type of retail health facility in Houston called a HealthHUB (see:CVS Expands Its Healthcare Presence with Its New HealthHUB Stores). The first store has now opened in Houston and was discussed in detail in a recent article (see:CVS Wants to Make Your Drugstore Your Doctor). These facilities are designed to offer a greatly expanded set of health services including wellness. Below is an excerpt from the Fortune article. It's very long so I can cover only a portion of it.[CVS] CEO Larry Merlo is working to transform CVS into a wellness pioneer —far ...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 23, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Medical Consumerism Preventive Medicine Source Type: blogs
A New Tool for Obtaining Crowd-Sourced Diagnoses for Pathology Images
Below is an announcement from Dr. Ulysses Balis, Professor of Pathology and Director of Pathology Informatics at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan:The University of Michigan Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics is very pleased to introduce a new educational tool for the global Pathology Community:www.Histoquery.org.With use of this new crowd-sourcing tool, following a simple and fast user registration process, users will be able to post educational cases to the site (comprised of one or more pathology images and an associated diagnostic question), and then be able to rec...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 21, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Digital Imaging in Pathology Medical Education Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
F***A New Tool for Obtaining Crowd-Sourced Diagnoses for Pathology Images
Below is an announcement from Dr. Ulysses Balis, Professor of Pathology and Director of Pathology Informatics at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan:The University of Michigan Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics is very pleased to introduce a new educational tool for the global Pathology Community:www.Histoquery.org.With use of this new crowd-sourcing tool, following a simple and fast user registration process, users will be able to post educational cases to the site (comprised of one or more pathology images and an associated diagnostic question), and then be able to rec...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 21, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Digital Imaging in Pathology Medical Education Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
A New Tool for Obtaining Crowd-Sourced Diagnoses for Pathology Images
Below is an announcement from Dr. Ulysses Balis, Professor of Pathology and Director of Pathology Informatics at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, Michigan:The University of Michigan Department of Pathology, Division of Pathology Informatics is very pleased to introduce a new educational tool for the global Pathology Community:www.Histoquery.org.With use of this new crowd-sourcing tool, following a simple and fast user registration process, users will be able to post educational cases to the site (comprised of one or more pathology images and an associated diagnostic question), and then be able to rec...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 21, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Digital Imaging in Pathology Medical Education Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
Need for More Verbal Communication Between Pathologists and Radiologists
I first discussed the merits of collaboration (or even merger) between the specialties of pathology and radiology in October, 2006 (see:Ten Reasons for Merging Pathology/Lab Medicine with Radiology). Since that time, I have commented on this same topic from time to time as well as how to improve pathology/radiology reports (see, for example:Radiologists and Pathologists as Information Specialists; Merger of the Specialties?; Making Surgical Pathology and Radiology Reports More Patient-Friendly;Pathology and Radiology Collaborate with a Concordance Conference). I recently came across a longish article encouraging path...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 16, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Education Medicolegal Issues Quality of Care Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
Grail Picks Specific Method for Liquid Biopsy Clinical Trials
Discussion about the"Liquid Biopsy";"Liquid Biopsy" Used to Refer to Detection of Any Serum Cancer DNA). Initially, the test involved the isolation of circulating cancer cells from a blood sample, a daunting task due to their rarity, and the subsequent analysis of the DNA of them. Liquid biopsy research has evolved since then to the collection and analysis of cell-free circulating DNA and RNA. A recent article discussed howGrail, the apparent leader in the commercialization of the technology, has selected what it deems to be the best method for cancer detection in the blood (see:Grail, the liquid biopsy...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 15, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Food and Drug Administration Genomic Testing Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Research Predictive Analytics Preventive Medicine Source Type: blogs
Watson's Patient Synopsis Tool, a Partial Solution for Physician Burnout?
As far as I can tell,IBM's Watson has not lived up to the expectations of many healthcare providers which was probably predictable, given the exuberance of its marketing campaign. Too many promises. However, a recent article about its use in creating aPatent Synopsis caught my eye. This would appear to be a potentially useful tool given the complexity of EHRs and the inability of users to often extract usable information from it (see:IBM Watson is taking on EHR qualms with a new AI tool). Below is an excerpt from this article:AI-enabled programs that help parse through data have the potential to minimize physicians'...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 14, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Medicolegal Issues Public Health Source Type: blogs
Watson's Patient Synopsis Tool, a Partial Solution for Physician Burnout?
As far as I can tell,IBM's Watson has not lived up to the expectations of many healthcare providers which was probably predictable, given the exuberance of its marketing campaign. Too many promises. However, a recent article about its use in creating aPatent Synopsis caught my eye. This would appear to be a potentially useful tool given the complexity of EHRs and the inability of users to often extract usable information from it (see:IBM Watson is taking on EHR qualms with a new AI tool). Below is an excerpt from this article:AI-enabled programs that help parse through data have the potential to minimize physicians'...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 14, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Medicolegal Issues Public Health Source Type: blogs
Six-Lead, Consumer-Facing ECG Device Close to Release to Market
I have previously blogged aboutAliveCor's three-lead ECG device in particular and cardiology in general as examples of cardiology being a"collision point" between consumer IT and the healthcare system (see:Three New Studies Confirm Clinical Utility of AliveCor ’s KardiaMobile Device and AI Algorithms;Cardiology as a"Collision Point" between Consumer IT and the Healthcare System). The company is now testing a a six-lead ECG instrument (see:AliveCor previews next product: A 6-lead smartphone ECG). Here is an excerpt from this article:AliveCor, which has offered an smartphone-connected ECG sinc...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 11, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Food and Drug Administration Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Research Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Sonic Use Lab Data and Analytics to Provide Important Information to Patients
Sonic Healthcare USA is the world ’s third largest pathology/laboratory medicine company with operations in eight countries. A recent article discussed how the company is now using lab test data generated in its labs for predictive analytics focusing on patients with neglected diabetes. The various laboratories then directly conta cted these patients, urging them to seek medical treatment (see:Sonic Healthcare Uses Test Data to Create Shared Savings Opportunities for Clinical Laboratory and Providers). These actions, in turn, reduced medical costs by this early intervention. Below is an excerpt from the...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 8, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Information Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Consumerism Medical Research Pathology Inform Source Type: blogs
Dipstick Technology Approved by FDA for Urinalysis at Home
I seem to have lost track of advancements in dipstick technology understanding that it is well established in such areas as pregnancy testing. Home glucose testing for diabetics, of course, is growing increasingly sophisticated with the test strips beingread by a meter. A recent article indicated that this meter technology can be replaced by the camera in a smartphone for recording and analyzing dipstick color changes when screening for kidney disease (see:FDA approves smartphone camera –based dipstick product). Below is an excerpt from the article: Healthy.io, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has obtained U....
Source: Lab Soft News - May 6, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Food and Drug Administration Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Consumerism Medical Research Poi Source Type: blogs
The Future for Pathology Informaticians Inexorably Linked to Analytics
The growing popularity of LIS modules such as Epic's Beaker inexorably leads to hospital/health system EHR personnel assuming greater responsibility for most of lab computing. This is in contrast to the past three or four decades when a small group of pathology-based informaticians and their staff exercised control over the LISs running in pathology departments. This turn of events prompted the following question in my mind:what professional activities will occupy the time and mind-share of the growing body of pathology informaticians now?Fortunately, there are two large challenges that will now be assigned...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 3, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures LIS Definitions and Strategy Medical Research Pathology Informatics Predictive Source Type: blogs
Surescripts Faces U.S. Antitrust Lawsuit Over Its E-Prescription Monopoly
In many ways, e-prescriptions have been one of the most popular and efficient tools available in the e-health toolkit. After a physician visit (live or virtual), a patient's prescriptions can be electronically transmitted to the patient's pharmacy of choice.There is only one problem with this type of e-transaction as was highlighted in an article five years ago.Surescripts, the provider of most of such e-prescription services, holds a monopoly in this market (see:The Medical Monopoly You ’ve Never Heard of). Here's a quote from March, 2014, claiming that fact:...Surescripts, a consortium consisting of nationa...
Source: Lab Soft News - May 1, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Ethics Medicolegal Issues Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
