Digitally Decentralized Pathology Departments; Creating a Value Added Network
Although digital pathology is being adopted by a relatively small number of pathology departments, we now seem to be approaching an inflection point for the broader deployment of this technology. Adoption will be driven by at least two factors: (1) for surgical pathology reference labs, the portability of WSI case images and other DP features loom large as a strategic business advantage; (2) for academic pathology departments, potential trainee applicants will increasingly favor departments that have deployed the technology in order to be prepared for the future.As pathology departments increasingly"go digital," ...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 30, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Testing Digital Pathology Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Medical Education Quality of Care Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
Competition Between CVS and Amazon's PillPack Extends in New Directions
I have gotten very interested in the competition between CVS and Amazon's PillPack for the retail drug market. CVS had more than 9,600 retail establishments in 2016 (see:CVS Pharmacy). It's original business model was the traditional one of"corner drug stores" where prescriptions were dropped off and drugs picked up. The PillPack fulfillment model is virtual -- prescriptions are submitted via a web site and the drugs are delivered back to one's door, often byAmazon Logistics. In response to this business model, CVS began to provide individualized dose packaging and home delivery withRx Delivery. CVS a...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 28, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Insurance Medical Consumerism Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
" Porch Pirates " and the Theft of Home-Delivered Drugs
In response to my recent note about the increasing competition between Amazon-PillPack and CVS in terms of home delivery of drugs, Andrea Pitkus submitted the following comment:It'll be interesting to see how this evolves, especially with the increase of porch pirates.It would be disastrous to patient safety if porch pirates steal meds from these unsecure delivery mechanisms. It would harm patients who need vital medication and also the receivers of the stolen (black market) meds. Hopefully, narcotics and other important meds are not delivered in the pill packs.Although"preset" pills are valuable for patients...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 27, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Business Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
Apple's iPhone and Watch Function as Medical Research Tools
As someone who is currently participating in an Apple/University of Michigan research study, I have a front row seat to a project that combines an iPhone, Apple Watch, and a blood pressure monitor to gather data. I have referred to this home-based technology as awearable health ecosystem (WHE) (see:The Evolution of"Wearable Health Ecosystems" and Associated Partnerships). A recent article in the NYT delved into the emerging Apple role in medical research (see:Apple ’s Reach Reshapes Medical Research). Below is an excerpt from it: ....[The] Harvard school [recently] announced an...ambitious women ’s health stu...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 25, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Population Health Public Health Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Amazon-PillPack Pushes Against CVS with Prescription Deliveries; Also Seeking PBM Status
In a previous note, I discussed how CVS was fighting back against its retail drug competitor Amazon-PillPack by slow-walking its prescription transfers to PillPack when requested by customers (see:Resistance to PillPack's Requests for Prescription Transfers from Retail Drug Stores). Here's a quote from my blog note about CVS's response:CVS certainly can't be counted out of this battle yet on the basis of pressure from PillPack and its web competitors (ExactCare Pharmacy,Remedi SeniorCare,PharmaPoint,Blink Health andPipelineRx). For example, CVS has announced same-day home delivery of drugs (see:CVS to offer...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 21, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Medical Consumerism Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs
Biometric Identification Linked to Patient EHR Records
This report seems very positive regarding Sentara's deployment of biometrics involving"palm prints." Unfortunately, the use of this term in the article is non-specific. Hand geometry does not provide high specificity (see:Hand geometry). However, Imprivata lists"palm vein recognition" as its key technology when accompanied with a patient's date-of-birth (see:Palm vein recognition scan). I will assume that this is the technology that is being deployed at Sentara. Here is some additional information from the Imprivata web site about palm vein recognition:A palm vein recognition technology so...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 18, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Source Type: blogs
Morning Hypertension and Home Monitoring of Blood Pressure
Morning hypertension is a syndrome about which there is an increasing understanding but ambiguity remains (see:Management of morning hypertension: a consensus statement of an Asian expert panel). Below is a quote from an article on the topic:Morning hypertension refers to high BP in the morning period, regardless of BP during the rest of the hours of the day. Morning hypertension is defined as morning BP ≥135/85 mm Hg for both ABPM [ambulatory blood pressure monitoring] and home BP monitoring. Clinic BP measurement can be used for screening morning hypertension.The diagnostic threshold is a BP ≥140/90 mm Hg. Morning hy...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 16, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Lab Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Preventive Medicine Public Health Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Diagnostics Versus Therapeutics; The Changing Role of Physicians
Prior to the 20th century, physicians themselves performed a small set of"lab tests" for their patients. One such example was tasting urine which was sweeter for diabetic patients (see:Urine flavor wheels helped doctors taste patients' pee centuries ago). Bedside diagnostic skills in these earlier days were more highly developed than today. Physicians of earlier generations thus performedall diagnostic and therapeutic functions for patients. This began to change in about the mid-20th century as the lab test menu expanded greatly and the sophistication of radiologic procedures increased. Commensurate with this...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 12, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: AI Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Lab Information Pathology Informatics Predictive Analytics Public Health Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Another Candidate for the Micro-Sample Diagnostics Market; CBC Results in Minutes
The Theranos fiasco (see:The rise and fall of Theranos, the blood-testing startup that went from Silicon Valley darling to facing fraud charges) served to cast a pall over the micro-sample diagnostics market. Now comes news about an Israeli company with a similar strategy but this time with an instrument providing a complete blood count (CBC) and a green light from the FDA (see:Unlike Theranos, startup ’s blood test device ‘delivers on promise’ with FDA nod). Below is an excerpt from the article:Israeli startupSight Diagnostics has received US Food and Drug Administration clearance to market a blood test device...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 11, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: AI Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Food and Drug Administration Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Source Type: blogs
Higher Quality Healthcare Correlates with Lower Blood Transfusion Rates
In a previous life in the 1970s, I was a blood banker at a large academic hospital. This may sound unbelievable to some of the currentLab Soft News readers but one of our cardiac surgeons in the 1970's would often transfuse six or more units of blood during a CABG (see: Variation in Use of Blood Transfusion in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery). Although modern blood transfusion can be life-saving, it can sometimes be a substitute for controlling hemorrhage by other and more appropriate means. In other words, less transfusion can often be equated with higher quality care. There is also a financial benefit when a hos...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 10, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Blood banking Clinical Lab Industry News Cost of Healthcare Lab Industry Trends Medical Research Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Why Apple Won't Buy Epic, Contrary to the Recommendation of Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer, the financial analyst, recently suggested that Apple should buy Epic (see:Jim Cramer: Why Apple should buy Epic). Below is an excerpt from the article: The most obvious acquisition in the [healthcare] space, Mr. Cramer said, is of EHR provider Epic.He noted that Epic and its competitors often engage in information blocking, or the refusal to share data between networks, which can lead to issues with patients' and providers' ability to access health records.However, Mr. Cramer notes that Apple launched its Health Records service last year, which allows iPhone users to access their own medical...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 8, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Diagnostics Electronic Health Record (EHR) Health Wearable Healthcare Information Technology Point-of-Care Testing Predictive Analytics Quality of Care Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
Patient Photos Integrated into EHRs, Causing Reduction in Medication Errors
One of the key elements of healthcare is ensuring that patients receive the proper meds and not those ordered for others. Medication errors are not uncommon so various measures have been used to help prevent such errors (see:Medication Errors and Adverse Drug Events). A recent article discussed the simple idea of placing a photo of a patient in the EHR and discusses how this simple measure appears to have been effective in curtailing mistakes (see:Patient Photo on Health Record Curtails Medication Errors). Below is an excerpt from the article:The idea is simple — display a photo at the top of an electronic health record,...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 5, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Information Technology Medical Consumerism Public Health Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
Plasma Proteins Used to Monitor Health Status; Emerging Science for Lab Testing
A recent article proposed a new way of analyzing patient serum as a means to broadly assess health status (see:Plasma protein patterns as comprehensive indicators of health). Below is an excerpt from the abstract:Proteins are effector molecules that mediate the functions of genes and modulate comorbidities, behaviors and drug treatments.They represent an enormous potential resource for personalized, systemic and data-driven diagnosis, prevention, monitoring and treatment. However, the concept of using plasma proteins for individualized health assessment across many health conditions simultaneously has not been tested. Here...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 4, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: AI Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Healthcare Innovations Lab Industry Trends Medical Ethics Population Health Preventive Medicine Source Type: blogs
Understanding the Distinction between Virtual Care and Telemedicine
I have been incorrectly using the term virtual care as being synonymous with physician/patient encounters via telemedicine. I was set straight by the following article:Telemedicine vs. Virtual Care: Defining the Difference. It's important to carefully distinguish between these two types of digital care as the field rapidly expands. Here's the difference as defined in this article: Simply put, the term virtual care is a way of talking about all the ways patients and doctors can use digital tools to communicate....While telemedicine refers to long-distance [direct and visual] patient care, virtual care is a mu...
Source: Lab Soft News - December 2, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Telemedicine Source Type: blogs
Telemedicine Visits Increasingly Being Accompanied by Lab Testing Services
The continuing adoption of virtual care (i.e., telemedicine) is driving a number of related changes in healthcare. One of them will certainly be changes in outpatient lab testing which has been stable for decades. In the past, patients with appointments in an outpatient facility, and for whom lab tests were ordered, typically had their blood drawn and tests performed in the same facility. These same conditions to not apply for a televisit where the participating physician sets the conditions for lab testing. This topic was addressed in a recentDark Daily note (see:As Primary Care Providers and Health Insurers Embrace...
Source: Lab Soft News - November 30, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Diagnostics Healthcare Innovations Healthcare Insurance Lab Industry Trends Medical Consumerism Point-of-Care Testing Telemedicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs
