Time, Money, and Lives Blog

The collection and sharing of data is a growing trend in healthcare, and Pathology is no exception. In the face of value-based reimbursement models, clinical Pathology laboratories are already gathering and leveraging huge quantities of data that are standardized across the industry. By collecting, sharing, and analyzing this data, clinical labs are able to demonstrate results and added value by assisting institutions in better population health management.

Anatomic Pathology reporting has historically been more narrative, but it can still benefit from structured data collection and distribution. There is already data collection and sharing occurring in cancer research, with the College of American Pathologists' electronic Cancer Checklists and the California Cancer Registry being two examples. While those are the most recognizable instances, the benefits of synoptic reporting and structured data to anatomic Pathology are not confined to cancer reporting or CAP compliance.

The Lean movement began as a management philosophy for manufacturing companies to increase consistency, remove unnecessary steps, and eliminate waste. Although Lean was originally intended to improve industrialized product development, it is now heavily applied to service industries and healthcare, including surgical pathology labs. The goal of implementing Lean practices in a lab is to make significant cuts in expenses while improving patient safety and the satisfaction of referring physicians. This is done by creating efficiency that drives quicker and higher quality outcomes.

Often times, companies believe that investing in a new technology will lead to vast efficiency improvement. The reality is that unless carefully planned and incorporated into a LEAN process, the results can be a mixed bag. In this blog I will attempt to point out a few of the many things that should be considered when implementing speech recognition based reporting solutions as part of a Lean laboratory strategy.

Hospitals around the world have seen their transcription services interrupted by the June 27 cyber attack. At first, the attack looked like the ransomware known as Petya. It encrypted users' files and demanded a ransom before unlocking them, but the ransom proved difficult if not impossible to pay. Authorities then began to suspect the attack, now called "NotPetya," was only created to cause as much disruption as possible. On that count, it has been very successful; the malware has spread to individuals, companies, and even nations around the world.