CompuNet Clinical Laboratories by the numbers
2,000 different types of tests including cholesterol, glucose and cancer diagnostics
650 employees, full- and part-time
4 million tests completed in 2012
7 rapid response labs within cancer practices
27 patient service centers
15 county service area
1 million miles driven a year by couriers to collect specimens tested at Moraine lab
Founded in 1986
Wanted: skilled laboratory workers
One of the challenges facing the medical laboratory industry is having enough skilled workers to do the jobs, said Kate Langevin, chief executive officer of CompuNet Clinical Laboratories of Moraine.
The industry is anticipating shortages in skilled workers, Langevin said.
“There are fewer what we call clinical lab science programs..and most of the people in the field now are approaching retirement or many of them are approaching retirement. There’s fewer programs and there’s fewer enrollees,” she said. The demand for medical testing is growing and “you have to be able to staff.”
Wright State University offers a four-year clinical laboratory science and certificate program. It takes Wright State students and graduate students from other colleges and universities. Fourteen students are accepted a year, although local hospital networks have indicated to Wright State hiring needs to be double that, said Program Director Cheryl Conley.
“The baby boomers have been clinical lab scientists for a number of years and there will be a max exodus when the baby boomers start retiring,” Conley said.
Clinical lab scientists in the Dayton area average about 57-years-old, she said. Education programs have closed over the years. But the demand for medical testing has risen with “significant” technological changes in the field, she said.
Job opportunities exist in laboratory science at doctor offices, research, technical sales, hospitals and reference laboratories.
“Our students basically have jobs when they get out,” Conley said.
CompuNet Clinical Laboratories is preparing for its future under health care reform, which changes how care providers are paid, puts more focus on preventative health measures, and increases the number of people insured and receiving services.
Reform means major changes for CompuNet, 2308 Sandridge Drive, a Moraine medical testing company. CompuNet does testing of blood, tissue and other samples.
Key provisions of the federal health care law go in effect in 2014. Estimates are that about 350,000 additional people in CompuNet’s 15-county service area could be eligible for insurance coverage beginning next year, the company said.
Under health care reform, providers will be paid based on quality, not volume of orders. CompuNet Clinical completed four million tests last year including cholesterol, glucose and cancer diagnostics. How CompuNet will be paid in the future is still to be determined, said Kate Langevin, chief executive officer.
The incoming increase in newly insured patients is a good opportunity, Langevin said. At the same time, the lab industry, hospitals and physician offices are also getting paid less by the government to perform those services, she said. That means every health provider has to figure out how to reduce costs.
“I think that looking five or so years out, you’re going to see health care organizations that today, either operate real independently from each other, maybe they’re competing to some degree with each other today, working a lot more closely together. We don’t have a choice. We got to find ways to deliver on this care equation,” she said.
“If you’re going to be a health care provider you’ve got to commit to that new world of very patient-centered care, a very integrated approach and so you can’t get there if you continue to do business the way you always have.”
This has CompuNet thinking about the role it can play in this new world.
“I think one of the big things is I talked about the four million tests that we did last year, multiply that over periods of several years for several different providers and we’ve got a lot of data that if it can be pulled together and paired with other data now becomes actionable information,” she said.
One of the biggest issues with medical testing is compliance and inconsistent results. For example, every six months someone with diabetes should take a hemoglobin test.
CompuNet could tell the patient’s doctor if the person took the test or not.
In fact, CompuNet could also help their doctor customers answer questions like: Did somebody already have this lab test? Did they test for other drugs not prescribed? Is the patient taking the right dosage?
Answering these questions can help cut back on duplication and hospital readmissions and increase patient compliance, key to the implementation of health care reform.
Any analysis would fall within privacy laws.
By the end of 2013, CompuNet’s goal is to put in place at least five programs related to patient population and outcome management.
For example, a program could be a partnership with a major local primary care practice, Langevin said. CompuNet could monitor tests results of a group of say 300 diabetic patients for compliance. CompuNet could share information with the doctor’s practice to tell them if patients don’t come for regular testing as instructed and if the group’s outcomes are improving, which can help doctors know which patients to pay attention to.
Then patients might receive reminders or need a medical intervention. Over time, CompuNet could provide trend analysis, Langevin said.
Alan Mertz, president of American Clinical Laboratory Association, said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act emphasizes preventative care such as early testing of diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. With no out-of-pocket costs for preventative tests, there’s incentive for early testing of disease. The association anticipates there will be more diagnostic testing as there will be more people with health insurance going forward.
“Presumably when people have insurance they tend to go to the doctor earlier, get more tests … and a lot of diseases can be treated more effectively in the early stages,” Mertz said.
In the last year, CompuNet introduced a new prescription drug monitoring service that tells if patients are taking their prescriptions or not, or if there’s other drugs in their system.
The Dayton area company already offers pre-employment drug screening, and can now test for nicotine usage, which has become more popular with employers. CompuNet also wants to do more services for employer wellness screening, such as on-site cholesterol, blood pressure and height and weight tests.
CompuNet operates seven rapid response laboratories at local cancer practices including a location opened this month at Miami Valley South’s new Comprehensive Cancer Center; 27 patient service centers; and runs Miami Valley Hospital and Miami Valley Hospital South’s laboratories.
Many human specimens are collected from patient service centers, doctors offices and hospitals by couriers, and brought back to the Moraine laboratory for testing. Results are shared via electronic medical records. Rapid response centers collect and test specimens on site.
The medical tester is a for-profit joint venture of Quest Diagnostics Inc., Valley Pathologists Inc. and Miami Valley Hospital Enterprises Inc.
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