|
|
Laboratory Information Systems"On the
Cheap"
Your editor and I have been attempting to make sense of the"Internet
Revolution" in recent months. The ability of the Internet to
make vast amounts of information available to anyone on demand,
no matter where they are in the world, will definitely transform
the clinical laboratory industry. After all, the fundamental product
of any lab is the test data and information it produces. But there
is another aspect of the Internet which we are just beginning to
comprehend. That aspect relates to the cost of LIS and other software
used in the laboratory. Most of you are learning to distinguish
between the fat client and the thin client–application service
provider (ASP) business model for software.
The fat model is what we know today. You buy the software from
the vendor. You buy the computer hardware needed to run the software.
Then you maintain software and hardware on your site. The thin client
is just the opposite. The ASP provider creates the software. It
is placed on a host, somewhere remote from the lab or hospital.
The ASP vendor maintains the software and the hardware.
The customer pays some ongoing fee to access and use the ASP software.
All that is needed to access the remote host is a Web browser and
a password for authorized users. Most lab executives and pathologists
know how expensive it is to acquire and maintain fat client software,
such as the LIS and pathology software that runs most labs today.
But few of us realize that, not only will thin client–ASP software
services be simpler and easier to use, but the cost of thin client
lab applications may fall to pennies. In one sense, this is what
the Internet is doing to long distance telephone charges.
During the past ten years, residential per-minute long distance
fees have dropped from 25¢ per minute to 5¢ per minute
and some experts think it will fall to nearly zero! The Dark Report
see that the same process already occurring in Web-based lab test
ordering and results reporting. In the second half of last year,
Healtheon/WebMD was signing contracts with major labs for prices
estimated to be about 50¢ to 75¢ per patient (for lab
order and result). Earlier this year we reported how one lab, using
Abaton.com's product, estimated its costs would be under 40¢
per patient. Now, as new companies enter the market, prices are
falling further.
Because a remote host–ASP vendor incurs virtually no added
costs to hook up additional users, I think free market competition
will drive the cost of ASP lab information software down to a fraction
of what it costs today to maintain fat client systems!
Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab
News
• Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. (BRLI) announced that its
physician Web portal...
• ADD TO: Bio-Reference: As a laboratory, Bio-Reference's
Internet strategy sets it apart fromall other...
• Motorola to Enter Biochip Market by Year's End
• Executive War College Gains Notice
Request a copy
The Dark Group Inc. © 2000
|
HMO Decline Predicted as PPOs Gain Enrollment
Hefty premium increases are expected to
slow the annual rate of increase in HMO membership
CEO SUMMARY: Managed care analyst Michael
Casey believes HMO enrollment will peak, possibly in 2000. PPOs
(preferred provider organizations) are gaining members at an increasing
rate. Within California, the provider revolt over deficient reimbursement
levels is escalating. Orange County's largest medical group,
with 500 doctors, announced it would not accept new HMO contracts
and might possibly cancel existing contracts.
Genesis Clin Laboratory Hits Outreach
Home Run
Hospital laboratory outreach sales effortbrings in lots of profitable
new business
CEO SUMMARY: Commercial laboratory consolidation
has left Chicago with only a handful of laboratory providers. New
management at MacNeal Hospital's for-profit laboratory division
recognized this opportunity. During the past three years, the outreach
program was revitalized and the sales force was expanded. The result
has been increased revenues and a steady decline in the lab's
average cost per test.
Market Hesitates to Embrace Automated Screening
Products
CEO Summary: Technology to enhance and
improve conventional Pap smear screening was introduced into the
clinical marketplace almost five years ago. But the clinical laboratory
industry has yet to embrace these various technologies in any meaningful
way. Like the introduction of liquid preparation methods for Pap
smear testing, these various technologies to enhance and automate
Pap smear screening have faced an uphill battle from the beginning.
Our guest writer believes that management
Internet Developments
• Predict Steady Decline in Fees for Web-based Lab Information
Lab Industry Briefs
• Emerging Business opportunity in Tissue Banks & Cancer
Data
• Drugs of Abuse Testing Labs Developing New Profit Centers
• Careside Goes Navy in Demonstration of Routine POC Testing
• Lab Products Involved in Internet E-commerce Venture
|
