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R. Lewis Dark: Internet as Threat and Opportunity for Labs
IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE THIS CRUSTY CURMUDGEON WEIGHED IN ON technology
changes with the potential to reshape laboratory services as we
know them today. However, things are changing and today I'd like to call
your attention to certain developments with the Internet and comment on
their potential to trigger change in our industry.
Many of you are noticing the evolution in the way people use the Web.
I believe we may be seeing the"first generation Internet" now yielding to
a"second generation Internet." In the first generation, the Internet was
rather simple. Businesses and people built their Web sites. The Internet
allowed others to come and view those Web sites. The Internet was a big
network that enabled people to find and visit sources of information that
were useful to them. The personal computer (PC), however, was typically
where the user downloaded the information and then interacted with it.
That's changing rapidly on today's Internet. Don Tapscott, CEO of
New Paradigm, a think tank, writes that"increasingly computers and
people can cooperate and intersect in richer ways across the
Internet...We've seen the advent of Internet-connected mobile devices,
the proliferation of broadband connections, the rise of collaborative software,
and the increasing penetration of Internet-connected computer
power into everyday objects, from cars to light switches."
For the second generation Internet, Tapscott's theme is"collaboration."
He observes that the Internet is evolving from a place where firms
present information into an actual computing platform itself. Certainly
we see early signs of this in clinical laboratories. More and more lab
instruments come equipped to connect to the Internet, either by wire or
wireless. These instruments can interact in real time with the LIS, their
manufacturer, and other software modules (think middleware).
Because laboratories are information factories, a collaborative, second-generation
Internet that is itself a computing platform represents both a
threat and an opportunity. As providers, payers, employers, and patients find
ways to use this more-sophisticated Internet in useful ways, laboratories
will be a rich source of both the raw data and the laboratory medicine knowhow
on how to best use that data. Labs that enable these new uses will maintain
and increase their relevance to the healthcare system.
Picking Top Ten Stories Of 2005 for Lab Industry
Unexpected insights into market changes
emerge from this year's intriguing list
CEO SUMMARY: THE DARK REPORT offers its pick of the"Ten
Biggest Lab Stories of 2005." This year's list of stories ranges
from major consolidation in both the laboratory and health
insurance industries, to"true crime" episodes that triggered
criminal indictments of certain public lab executives. 2005's
most important story may be the forceful arrival of consumerdirected
health plans (CDHPs) in the healthcare marketplace.
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: Middleware Provides Opportunity
For Labs to Gain New Functions
Even as more laboratories begin to use middleware, the number
of functions and uses for middleware continues to increase
CEO SUMMARY: Middleware is attracting attention throughout the laboratory
industry. It describes the software applications that bridge instruments
and the LIS, or sit on top of the LIS to perform specific functions. Middleware
is generally a fast and reliable way to automate tasks and monitor work
processes in the lab. In this exclusive interview, Gregory R.Vail, CEO of Data
Innovations, Inc., located in Burlington, Vermont, gives lab administrators
and pathologists an inside view of the middleware marketplace. Vail's company
was one of the pioneers in creating middleware solutions for use in
clinical laboratories. He discusses the first middleware applications by labs
in the late 1980's. He also covers the evolution of middleware during the
past two decades and includes insights about how today's early-adopter
labs are using middleware solutions in innovative ways. The interview was
conducted by Robert L. Michel, Editor-In-Chief of THE DARK REPORT.
INTELLIGENCE:
ANNUAL INCREASE
IN HEALTH COSTS
SLOWS FOR EMPLOYERS
THE DARK REPORT IS
NOW VISITING AUSTRALIA
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