DLS|HEALTHCARE NEWS|October 15, 2015
A Weekly Compilation of Clinical Laboratory and Related Information
From The Division Of Laboratory Systems
October 15, 2015
News Highlights
Leading News
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Medicare Payments for Clinical Laboratory Tests in 2014: Baseline Data
New TSRI Metabolomic Platform Reveals Fundamental Flaw in Common Lab Technology
Study Reveals Why Gowns and Gloves Can Be So Dangerous for Hospital Workers
Laboratory Testing / Diagnostics
How to Detect and Solve Immunoassay Interference
Lessons Learned in Lab Automation
New Test Predicts Teens' Future Risk of Heart Disease
Research and Development
Can a Urine Test Identify TB?
Vaginal Microbes Influence Whether Mucus Can Trap HIV Virus
Deleting Genes Could Boost Lifespan by 60 Percent, Say Scientists
Public Health and Patient Safety
International Diabetes Research Knowledge Portal Opens to Public, Scientists
Research: Needle-Sharing Dropped among Addicts Using Ind. Exchange
Laboratory Waste
Health IT and Other
Warning Labels Should Be Introduced to Prevent Digital Addiction, Bournemouth University (BU) Research Finds
New Study Shows Electronic Tracking Helps Reduce Blood Transfusions & Infection Rates
Senate Bill Would Allow VA Doctors to Practice Telehealth across State Lines
View Previous Issues - Healthcare News Archive
Leading News
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Medicare Payments for Clinical Laboratory Tests in 2014: Baseline Data
The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014 requires reform of the payment system for clinical laboratory (lab) tests—the first such reform in 3 decades. The current payment rates, which are based on lab charges from 1984 and 1985, will be replaced with recent rates paid by private payers. PAMA calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to begin collecting private‐payer rate data from labs in 2016 and to begin paying new, potentially lower rates for lab tests in 2017. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new payment system will save the Government $2.5 billion over 10 years. To provide oversight, PAMA mandated that the Office of Inspector General (OIG) monitor Medicare payments for lab tests and the implementation of the new payment system. Specifically, PAMA requires OIG to publicly release an annual analysis of the top 25 lab tests based on Medicare payments and to conduct analyses that OIG determines appropriate regarding the implementation and effect of the new payment system.
Source: http://oig.hhs.gov/
New TSRI Metabolomic Platform Reveals Fundamental Flaw in Common Lab Technology
A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) shows that a technology used in thousands of laboratories, called gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), fundamentally alters the samples it analyzes. "We found that even relatively low temperatures used in GC-MS can have a detrimental effect on small molecule analysis," said study senior author Gary Siuzdak, senior director of TSRI's Scripps Center for Metabolomics and professor of chemistry, molecular and computational biology. Using new capabilities within XCMS, a data analysis platform developed in the Siuzdak lab, the researchers observed small molecules transforming - and even disappearing - during an experiment meant to mimic the GC-MS process, throwing into question the nature of the data being generated by GC-MS. The study was published online ahead of print in the journal Analytical Chemistry.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
Study Reveals Why Gowns and Gloves Can Be So Dangerous for Hospital Workers
A hospital ought to be the last place to get a life-threatening infection, but it happens. A new study helps explain why. Researchers asked real hospital workers to remove gowns and gloves smeared with fake bacteria. When they did, the fake bacteria wound up on their skin or clothes 46% of the time, according to their report published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In other words, the odds that these healthcare professionals could take off their protective coverings without contaminating themselves were only slightly better than the flip of a coin. Part of the solution is to make sure healthcare workers get better training on how to put on their gowns and gloves, and how to take them off, the study authors wrote. But training can do only so much. Perhaps workers should disinfect their gowns and gloves before they take them off, either with bleach or possibly ultraviolet C light. Ultimately, the best solution may be to redesign personal protective equipment so that it’s easier to remove without contaminating oneself, the study authors wrote.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/s
U.S. and Canada Partner to Invest $21 Million for Research Hubs in Developing Countries
The National Institutes of Health and other U.S. and Canadian partners are investing $20.9 million dollars over five years to establish seven regional research and training centers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) Hubs will consist of multidisciplinary groups of researchers and partner organizations collaborating on common research and training topics that address environmental and/or occupational health issues.
NIH’s Fogarty International Center is coordinating and partially funding the awards, in collaboration with NIH partners, the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Also providing support is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Canada’s International Development Research Centre is contributing to the funding of research led by LMIC scientists. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is also participating in the GEOHealth program by offering supplemental funding for research and training focused on household air pollution.
Source: http://www.nih.gov/
Laboratory Testing / Diagnostics
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How to Detect and Solve Immunoassay Interference
Despite all their versatility, immunoassays have some challenges in that they are subject to interferences, thereby generating false increase (positive interference) or false decrease (negative interference) in reported results. Such results could lead to misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis, causing unnecessary and expensive additional laboratory and clinical investigations, not to mention significant morbidity and even mortality in the affected patients. So it is important to detect interferences and take steps to generate correct results. This article summarizes the five most common sources of immunoassay interference along with strategies for resolving them.
An important source of immunoassay interference is human endogenous antibodies, which may react with immunoassay reagents, causing either positive or negative interferences, depending on assay antibodies and architecture. These interfering antibodies are of four types:
Heterophilic antibodies
Anti-animal antibodies
Autoantibodies
Therapeutic antibodies
Source: https://www.aacc.org/
Lessons Learned in Lab Automation
A look at what U.S. Laboratories can learn from Europe
There is no doubt that an automation system is a significant investment for any laboratory. However, ongoing trends such as increasing test volumes and staffing challenges continue to drive the need for total lab automation (TLA) solutions -- sample tracks with direct interfaces between pre- and/or post-analytical components and diagnostic testing instruments. Currently, TLA solutions are more prevalent in European laboratories, many of which have been automated for years and have already installed their second or even third generation automation systems. By contrast, in the United States, there are still a number of mid- to high-volume laboratories that are automating for the first time. When thinking about automation, what we can learn from European laboratories is that it need not be limited only to clinical chemistry and high-volume immunoassay testing. We have seen automation pioneers in Europe successfully integrate multidisciplinary testing – including chemistry, immunoassay, hematology and hemostasis testing, as well as a broad portfolio of pre- and post-analytical tasks onto a single sample track. As the technology has evolved, European laboratories are benefiting further from their willingness to incorporate both routine and STAT testing into the automated environment.
Source: http://laboratory-manager.advanceweb.com/
New Test Predicts Teens' Future Risk of Heart Disease
The new diagnostic test has been developed by a team that included Mark DeBoer, MD, of the University of Virginia Children's Hospital's Department of Pediatrics, and Matthew Gurka, PhD, of West Virginia University's School of Public Health. The test relies on an evaluation of metabolic syndrome, a conglomeration of conditions including increased blood pressure, high levels of blood sugar, excessive body fat around the abdomen and waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels that together increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. It takes into account variables specific both to race and gender. The test is innovative in that it is able to assess changes in metabolic syndrome severity in a person over time and creates a specific number predicting risk. Previous diagnostic tests have been merely positive or negative, stating that a person either has or does not have metabolic syndrome, but the new test is able to create a scale, delineating the precise degree to which a youth is at risk.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/
A Lyme Disease Cautionary Tale
A study by Canadian researchers calls into question the validity and accuracy of Lyme disease testing methods of specialty laboratories in the United States. In reviewing the case of a 35-year-old man who had been suffering from fatigue over the past year and received a positive result from a U.S. laboratory, the Canadian analysis revealed that some commercial labs offer tests with unvalidated methods and a high rate of false-positive outcomes. Although the incidence of Lyme disease has been on the rise in Canada, with infected ticks establishing populations in several provinces, the researchers asserted that this one particular patient did not fit the epidemiological profile of someone with Lyme disease, and that it was unlikely that he had this condition. Results of the study were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Doctors either make a clinical diagnosis of Lyme disease based on a physical symptom such as a rash, or they conduct serologic testing. Public health laboratories in Canada use a two-tier approach recommended by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Infectious Diseases Society of America to diagnose Lyme disease: an initial screen with enzyme immunoassay, followed by a Western blot to confirm results in the event the test is positive.
Source: https://www.aacc.org/
FDA OKs Multipathogen Nucleic Acid Test for CNS Infections
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first nucleic acid-based test of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that can simultaneously detect 14 pathogens responsible for central nervous system (CNS) infections. The FilmArray Meningitis/Encephalitis (ME) Panel (BioFire Diagnostics) is designed to test CSF specimens from patients who have signs and symptoms of these two conditions. The test can yield results in about 60 minutes. In contrast, it may take up to 3 days to identify a bacterial infection using current diagnostic technology, according to an FDA news release. The wait time for viral infections can be longer, given that specimens often must be shipped to specialized laboratories.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/
Sequenom, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Collaborate on Liquid Biopsy
Sequenom will collaborate with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany to evaluate the clinical utility of a liquid biopsy assay in colorectal cancer, the firm said. Sequenom is currently developing a circulating tumor DNA research assay with an initial focus on the detection and molecular profiling of late stage non-hematologic malignancies in cases where tissues biopsies are not available or are too risky to obtain.
Source: https://www.genomeweb.com/
Netherlands Awards Roche Contract for Cervical Cancer Screening Program Using Cobas HPV Assay
Roche announced that Dutch authorities have awarded it a five-year contract to implement the Cobas HPV test to replace traditional Pap smear testing as the first-line, primary screening test in the country's national cervical cancer screening program. The decision by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands is expected to make the country the first with an organized cervical screening program to move from the Pap test to primary HPV screening, Roche said. The new Dutch program, which is anticipated to begin in the second half of 2016, includes a longer period between routine screening visits and the option for women to self-collect their screening samples.
Source: https://www.genomeweb.com/
Research and Development
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Can a Urine Test Identify TB?
Urinary compound may also track treatment response
A substance found in urine appears able to distinguish between people with and without tuberculosis, a researcher said. And a prospective case-control study suggests that, in those with confirmed TB, it also appears to diminish as treatment progresses and the disease is cured, according to Flonza Isa, MD, of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. If the results are confirmed, the substance – dubbed simply Compound 490 – could form the basis of inexpensive, non-invasive TB testing at the point of care, Isa reported at the annual IDWeek meeting, held jointly by four medical organizations with an interest in infectious illness – the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS).
Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/
Prototype Lab in a Needle Could Make Real-Time, Mobile Laboratory Testing a Reality
Researchers at Houston Methodist, along with collaborators at two major Singapore institutions, have developed a lab in a needle device that could provide instant results to routine lab tests, accelerating treatment and diagnosis by days. This single, self-contained medical device will be effective, for example, in quickly detecting liver toxicity which is a common side effect of chemotherapy. This device will test toxicity in 30 minutes while current liver toxicity tests take several days due to multiple steps required before a physician interprets the test results and communicates them to the patient. Developed jointly by Houston Methodist, Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), the invention was explained in the recent issue of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Lab on a Chip.
Source: http://www.newswise.com/
Vaginal Microbes Influence Whether Mucus Can Trap HIV Virus
HIV particles are effectively trapped by the cervicovaginal mucus from women who harbor a particular vaginal bacteria species, Lactobacillus crispatus. The findings, published in mBio, an online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, could lead to new ways to reduce or block vaginal transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). "Mucosal surfaces, such as the lung, gastrointestinal tract, or female reproductive tract, are where most infections take place," says Sam Lai, assistant professor of pharmacy and engineering at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and senior author on the study. "Our bodies secrete over six liters of mucus everyday as a first line of defense." Cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) can act as a barrier to prevent pathogens from reaching the underlying vaginal wall cells, but the barrier properties vary greatly from woman to woman and even at different times in the same woman. Lai and his collaborators wanted to know what accounts for those differences.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
Deleting Genes Could Boost Lifespan by 60 Percent, Say Scientists
The secret of extending life by decades may lie in switching off certain genes, scientists believe, after showing that small genetic tweaks can make organisms live 60 percent longer. Ten years of research by the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing and the University of Washington has identified 238 genes that, when silenced, increase the lifespan of yeast cells. Many of the genes are present in mammals, including humans, suggesting that switching them off could dramatically increase lifespan. “This study looks at aging in the context of the whole genome and gives us a more complete picture of what aging is,” said lead author Dr Brian Kennedy.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Tracing Tissue Origins of DNA
Researchers have found a method for detecting the relative contributions of different tissues to the DNA in blood plasma and for identifying the tissue-of-origin of genomic aberrations found in plasma DNA. Study results were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The expectation is this will facilitate cancer detection, noninvasive prenatal testing, and transplant monitoring. For laboratorians, the upshot is “we have developed a DNA blood test that would link genomic aberrations in ‘liquid biopsies’ to anatomy,” Dennis Lo, MD, a senior author of the study, told CLN Stat.
Source: https://www.aacc.org/
Antioxidants May Make Cancer Worse
Antioxidants are supposed to keep your cells healthy. That is why millions of people gobble supplements like vitamin E and beta-carotene each year. However, a new study adds to a growing body of research suggesting these supplements actually have a harmful effect in one serious disease: cancer. The work, conducted in mice, shows that antioxidants can change cells in ways that fuel the spread of malignant melanoma—the most serious skin cancer—to different parts of the body. The progression makes the disease even more deadly.
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/
Scientists Discover Why Elephants Rarely Get Cancer
According to everything we know about cancer, elephants should be hit hard by the disease. Cancer is a disease of aging, and elephants can live up to 70 years. Yet cancer is relatively rare in elephants. Less than 5% of elephant deaths in captivity are related to cancer. A new study suggests a possible reason: Elephants have 20 times as many copies of a key cancer-fighting gene as humans. Humans typically have just two copies of a tumor-blocking gene called TP53, inheriting one from their mother and one from their father, said Joshua Schiffman, co-author of the study published in JAMA. In contrast, elephants have 40 copies, said Schiffman, a pediatric oncologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. TP53 plays a vital role in preventing cancer, said Schiffman, who describes it as the "guardian of the genome," scanning cells for genetic mistakes and destroying ones that can't be fixed. Scientist Robert Weinberg, whose lab discovered the first tumor suppressor gene, said the study provides a clue to an evolutionary puzzle.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
Public Health and Patient Safety
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International Diabetes Research Knowledge Portal Opens to Public, Scientists
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Foundation for the NIH (FNIH) have expanded a recently launched online library, called a knowledge portal, which allows open-access searching of human genetic and clinical information on type 2 diabetes. Individual data will remain confidential. The portal External Web Site Policy includes information from several major international networks, collected from decades of research. A product of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) for type 2 diabetes, the portal is aimed at advancing type 2 diabetes research and treatment, and will include data from over 100,000 genetic samples obtained from clinical consortia supported by the NIH and FNIH. AMP is an innovative project of government, industry and nonprofit organizations working together to speed research in type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Source: http://www.nih.gov/
Research: Needle-Sharing Dropped among Addicts Using Ind. Exchange
Needle-sharing dropped significantly among addicts who used a syringe exchange program started in response to Indiana’s worst-ever HIV outbreak, says research being released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research, by the CDC's Monita Patel and colleagues, looked at data from 100 program clients who visited the exchange more than twice, with at least seven days between visits, from the program’s launch in April through June 6. Between the first and most recent visits, they found that needle sharing dropped by 85%, with 34 clients reporting at the first visit that they had shared needles, and only five reporting at the most recent visit that they had shared needles. Meanwhile, re-use of needles by individual addicts also dropped significantly.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/
Laboratory Waste
Did you know that 4 million pounds of plastic pipette tips are added to landfills every year? Not to mention countless other single-use plastic packaging, tape, reagent dishes, petri dishes, multi-well assay plates and specimen slides, as well as the chemicals associated with dark rooms, blot runs, and dry ice. Resource conservation (including energy, water and material waste reduction) in science should be a goal for every laboratory, each of which consumes 5-7 times more energy than campus classrooms or office spaces. Activities that "green" your lab do not need to compromise research efficiency or monetary consistency. In fact, laboratory sustainability can actually enhance laboratory safety and organization in many cases. Even the National Institutes of Health is developing guides to designing sustainable lab and data management practices. So, how can your lab take part? Here are 5 easy suggestions (compiled from The Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (12SL); the University of Colorado, Boulder; Labconscious.com; Harvard University Office of Sustainability5 et al) that you can start employing immediately!
Upgrade inefficient laboratory equipment and techniques.
Turn equipment like PCR machines, centrifuges and overhead lights off when not in use, and retire unnecessary or duplicate equipment.
Shut the sash!
Develop means to reduce the large flow of lab reagents into the waste stream.
Buy from suppliers that support green efforts.
Source: http://laboratory-manager.advanceweb.com/
Working with Nurses to Make Our Systems Safe
It is healthy for laboratorians to realize that just because a procedure is written in the laboratory, it will not always be followed as instructed. Laboratorians should meet with nursing staff in a non-judgmental setting to ask why the procedures are not being followed as written. For our part, laboratorians should assume that most nurses come to work intent on doing a great job, and that some of their poor habits that confound the lab make sense in the context of nursing work. For example, most shortcuts seem reasonable when viewed through their lens: due to time constraints and patient considerations, nurses often borrow from one area of patient safety—which they perceive as lower risk—to add safety in another area. Could it be that they think the lab is one place to borrow from, in order to give more to medication safety? Think about it from the nurse’s perspective: a medication mistake, like an insulin overdose or the wrong medication, could immediately harm the patient. On the other hand, lab results—except in critical care/urgent situations—usually have two safety guardrails: 1) redundant clinical information from other lab tests, physical, history, other studies; and 2) time to repeat an unexpected result in most cases. This is why it is critical that nurses understand that certain lab requirements, such as following the protocols for identifying patients before giving blood or blood products, must be followed explicitly every time. Laboratorians should consider working more closely with nursing colleagues to make our systems safer. Because laboratorians are adept at seeing the big picture, analyzing data, and seeing patterns and process flows, we complement our nursing colleagues, who see problems at the bedside. By strengthening the hand-offs between nursing and laboratorians, we understand and humanize each other. We begin to understand each other’s special challenges. Sometime in the future, almost all of us will end up on the other side of nursing and the laboratory as patients. Wouldn’t we all benefit from proactively dealing with these issues?
Source: https://www.aacc.org/
To Err Is Human, for a Pathologist to Apologize Is Uncommon
Although most pathologists will admit to having some involvement in a pathology error, many of them are ill-prepared to communicate with the patients who suffer the consequences, according to results from an anonymous survey. "Even though pathologists don't interact directly with patients, we make errors just like in any other field of medicine," David Cohen, MD, from the Houston Methodist Hospital, told Medscape Medical News. In such cases, "patients frequently say they want a sincere apology, they want a clear explanation of what happened, and they want an explanation of how it will be prevented in the future," said Dr Cohen. However, pathologists usually defer the "mea culpas" to their provider colleagues. "How are you supposed to do those things — give an apology and explain in full detail what happened — if you're completely giving responsibility for error disclosure to someone else?" he asked. Dr Cohen addressed the ethical, medicolegal, and professional implications of error disclosure here at the College of American Pathologists 2015 Meeting. He and his colleagues developed a multiple-choice survey to assess attitudes and experiences related to the disclosure of medical errors.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/
Many Americans Travel Abroad without Key Vaccines
New research shows many Americans are traveling abroad without taking this important precaution. According to a study presented at an infectious disease conference in San Diego, of the nearly 41,000 international U.S. fliers examined, 16 percent needed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine -- but only about half of them actually got it. "Most people believe that they've already had their childhood immunizations -- they're just like, 'Oh yeah, I would have had that,' and no further consideration," said Rayann Aziz, Executive Director of Passport Health, the largest provider of travel medicine and immunization services in North America. This is dangerous, health experts say, because most measles outbreaks in the U.S. are caused by unvaccinated people who are infected overseas.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/
Health IT
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Warning Labels Should Be Introduced to Prevent Digital Addiction, Bournemouth University (BU) Research Finds
Warning labels and messages should be introduced on digital devices to encourage responsible usage and prevent digital addiction, according to Bournemouth University (BU) research. The researchers believe labels and messages are required to help people adjust their usage of digital devices and raise awareness of potential side effects and addictive behaviours. A study by software experts and psychologists from BU found that more than 80 per cent of participants believed digital warning labels were a good idea, and would encourage users to adapt their use of digital devices and social networking sites. Dr Raian Ali, a Senior Lecturer in Computing at BU, said: "Research has shown that excessive and obsessive usage and preoccupation about technology are associated with undesirable behaviours such as reduced creativity, depression and disconnection from reality.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
New Study Shows Electronic Tracking Helps Reduce Blood Transfusions & Infection Rates
An electronic system developed and implemented by Intermountain Healthcare that monitors how physicians give blood to patients after a surgical operation has enabled the healthcare system to significantly reduce the amount of blood transfusions patients receive, cutting costs by $2.5 million over two years and contributing to lower infection rates without harming patients, according to a new study presented at the 2015 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. In 2011, six percent of all patients at Intermountain facilities received blood; today, only four percent do so, according to Dr. Ott. "So, a third of our patients didn't get blood who used to. That's a giant change," he said. "That's tens of thousands of units of blood a year that didn't get used." Study authors report that each unit of blood costs about $300. Rates of hospital-acquired infections for both the general hospital population and patients who received blood declined significantly since Intermountain adopted the blood-tracking system. The reduction in infections was also impacted by other initiatives within the health system aimed at reducing surgical site infections and ambulating patients earlier after operations.
Going forward, the study investigators plan to publish their findings to illustrate how the monitoring program changed physician behavior.
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/
Senate Bill Would Allow VA Doctors to Practice Telehealth across State Lines
Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and eight co-sponsors, have introduced a bill that would allow veterans greater access to telehealth services by allowing providers to practice across state lines. The Veterans E-Health & Telemedicine Support Act of 2015 (VETS Act) mirrors a House bill introduced in May by Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.). Current law allows the Veterans Administration to waive state licensure requirements only if both the patient and physician are physically at a VA facility. Home telehealth services require both physician and patient to be located in the same state. These barriers mean veterans have to travel great distances to a VA facility to receive telehealth services. The VETS Act would allow VA healthcare professionals to practice across state lines and conduct telehealth services, including mental healthcare treatment, with patients in their own homes. Another telehealth bill, introduced in the House in July, would expand the geographic reach and covered telehealth services for Medicare patients.
Source: http://www.fiercehealthit.com/
CMS Awards $685 Million to Aid Providers in Transformation Efforts
The CMS Innovation Center is awarding $685 million to more than three dozen physician groups, health systems and other organizations for training, education and investment in information technology, care coordination and quality-improvement efforts. The funds were awarded under the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative, which was first announced last year as a four-year effort that federal officials said would save up to $5 billion. The funding, federal officials said, will complement federal efforts already underway that establish new incentives for quality and efficiency, and bolster the use of information technology to increase clinicians' and patients' timely access to medical records and other crucial data.
Source: https://www.pcpcc.org/
Digital Pathology Market to Grow to Nearly $500 Million in 5 Years
U.S.-based Transparency Market Research (TMR) has announced the release of a new market research report. The report, titled ‘Digital Pathology Systems Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 – 2020’, delivers detailed data regarding the global digital pathology market. The report states that the global digital pathology market was worth close to US$229 million in 2013 and will grow to be worth US$492.8 million by 2020, expanding at a CAGR of over 11% therein. The report details the historical data regarding the digital pathology market and lists category-wise statistics. Based on the same, forecasts are then presented for the market’s growth during the forecast period 2014-2020. The report banks on primary and secondary research to gather the relevant data and employs crucial analytical tools such as market attractiveness analysis, SWOT analysis, and Porter’s five forces analysis to examine the digital pathology market from various aspects.
Source: http://tissuepathology.com/
Cloud.gov Goes Live
The General Services Administration flipped the switch on Cloud.gov Oct. 9, going live with a new offering from its innovation lab, known as 18F. The service aims to provide agencies with a ready-to-go Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud for building, testing and managing web applications. "Cloud.gov allows 18F to reduce the need for highly skilled infrastructure resources to be on every team, enabling people with broad and shallow development expertise to accomplish things that would normally require specialized experts," according to an Oct. 9 press release from GSA.
Source: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/
Other News
Leslie Michelson’s Checklist for Avoiding Diagnostic Errors
When the Institute of Medicine came out last month with a report saying almost every American will experience a medical diagnostic error, Leslie Michelson wasn’t surprised. He runs Private Health Management, a Los Angeles based company that – for a substantial fee – helps patients figure out what’s wrong with them, often after an array of doctors have failed to do so. The firm gathers the client’s medical records, selects experts in the condition for which the patient has been diagnosed, refers biopsy results for second opinions – and often sends patients to meet with top-tier specialists. Sometimes, they find the patient doesn’t have the condition originally diagnosed. Other times, the diagnosis is correct, but the treatment is not. His firm’s services are costly, running into the tens of thousands of dollars. But consumers can do this themselves, said Michelson, if they stop being passive about their medical care.
Source: http://khn.org/
Australia Court Rules against Breast Cancer Gene Patent
Australia's High Court has ruled a gene which greatly increases the chances of breast and ovarian cancer cannot be patented. A U.S. medical research firm was awarded the patent for the BRCA1 gene after isolating it in the 1990s. But the high court unanimously overthrew earlier rulings and said the discovery could not be considered an invention so could not be protected. Cancer campaigners say the ruling makes testing for the gene more accessible. Myriad Genetics, which holds the patents and makes tests for the gene, had argued a patent would encourage further research investment. But the court in Canberra said that while detecting the gene "might be, in a formal sense, a product of human action, it was the existence of the information stored in the relevant sequences that was an essential element of the invention as claimed". The discovery did not, therefore, count as an invention under patent laws. The U.S. Supreme Court had already ruled against the patent in 2013.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/<a class="external" href="http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html" style="background: url(http://www.cdc.gov/TemplatePackage/3.0/images/icon_out.png) 100% 50% no-repeat;