CAP TODAY Archive for 2004

Updated February 28, 2004

2004

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2004 CAP TODAY Article Index

2004 CAP TODAY Article Index (PDF, 53 K)

December 2004

Cover Story:
Zigs and zags on the ZAP-70 highway

Feature Stories:
In South, competitive bidding rises again
Chapter and verse on next year’s CPT code changes
Help yourself—to open-access CytoJournal
Bells, whistles, and beyond with new Ortho system
Why the name NCCLS will be no more after ’04
Chasing after sepsis markers, test by test
Your CPT Questions

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: Vendors selling simplicity and banking on the basics - December 2004 (PDF document, 906 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

November 2004

Cover Story:
Going with the flow in hematopathology

Feature Stories:
Playing by the rules with expert software
Ovarian cancer: Peak experience guides biomarker hunt
For some, newer and slicker means trouble quicker: Why labs should think twice before replacing an older but solid laboratory information system
New biomarkers could deliver a strike at stroke
A SNPpet of background on pharmacogenomics
At CAP’04, five honored for top-notch service
Award winners push "luxury" service: pathology
How many staff does it take?

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: Change—the biggest constant in the LIS marketplace - November 2004 (PDF document, 1,179 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

October 2004

Cover Story:
Popping the question: Is it a genetic test?

Feature Stories:
Blood banks join the automation chorus
How viral infections fit into myocarditis
HIV, HCV windows nearly shut with minipool NAT
Using rapid PTH assay in the OR: it’s about time
How to validate heparin sensitivity of the aPTT
Long reach of IDN labs stretching even farther
CLA to work with states, state its plans for assessing labs
All eyes on cytopathology lab inspections
Your CPT Questions
Q & A

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: Once a shot in the dark, blood bank systems now hitting the mark - October 2004 (PDF document, 589 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

September 2004

Cover Story:
GI stromal tumors "a model for what’s coming"

Feature Stories:
Antibodies and kits for KIT
GIST prognosis based on histology
Histology slides into a benchmark (and landmark) program
To each its own—guidelines for point-of-care QC
Getting results from point A to B
Outreach patient tissue biopsy: How to help your hospital avoid losing Medicare dollars
How an oversight led one pathology group to upgrade its ordering system
Four deaths, one culprit, countless questions

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: Beyond all the bells and whistles of linking software - September 2004 (PDF document, 1,308 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

August 2004

Cover Story:
Bladder biopsies in step with clinical side

Feature Stories:
Swapping swabs for syringes and scalpes
Lean, mean—the evergreen hunt for efficiency
How twin towers and a bridge keep hematology automation on track at Permanente
Getting serious about microalbuminuria
CAPScan
New OIG guidance on Part A "a step backward"
Your CPT Questions

PAP/NGC Programs Review:
Location-guided screening of Pap smears: one lab’s experience
Whose name should go on this report anyway?
Q & A
Recommended reading
Interpretive trends and pitfalls: a look back at ’03

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: In vitro blood gas analyzers - July 2004 (PDF document, 802 K)
Survey of Instruments: Much to look forward to in chemistry analyzers - July 2004 (PDF document, 963 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

July 2004

Cover Story:
Speaking volumes about IDN successes

Feature Stories:
Time to talk turkey in microbiology labs
Plenty to cheer in first nurses Q-Probes
Not Mayo? No matter—small labs go molecular
Kaiser roll: the push for more HPV screening
Digital imaging, telepathology: what’s the holdup?
More CME/CE programs now packaged with PT
Study finds people let preventive tests slide
As LUCK would have it

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: In vitro blood gas analyzers - July 2004 (PDF document, 802 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

June 2004

Cover Story:
Clinicians on POC—read this and weep

Feature Stories:
Safety net:juggling the gains, losses of phlebotomy routines
On the trail of TRALI, the latest Tx villain
New take on mistakes—stopping errors sooner
Cancer protocols: leaner, later, more lenient
Capitol Scan
CLA cultivates relationships and grooms checklist
Weeding out garden-variety PT failures and more
Want to trim $1,727,250? Here’s how one lab did
In memoriam: William B. Hamlin, MD, 1931-2004
In memoriam: Eleanor B. Sinton, MD, 1922-2004
Where there’s a will, there’s a way—and there’s Dr. Baptist
Queries and Comments
Your CPT Questions

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: Automated immunoassay analyzers: the latest lineup - June 2004 (PDF document, 1,477 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

May 2004

Cover Story:
Welcoming resistance tests, old and new

Feature Stories:
It’s ba-a-ack . . . New talks on Medicare competitive bidding
AP vs. CP, scope, RFPs: Portal gets green—now what?
Everyone into the pool—a new approach to data
In memoriam: Edwin B. Herring, MD, 1922-2004
Bringing LIS technology converts into the fold
Just the facts—CAP ’04 picks practical path
Probing employee competency in POC testing
Putting pathology on the ballot this election

PAP/NGC Programs Review
The ABCs of anal-rectal cytology
How cervical cytology reporting rates have changed
Where are we today and where do we go from here?
Error rates: ThinPrep vs. conventional Paps
Significance of atypical repair in liquid-based gynecologic cytology
HPV testing as a primary screening method
What ASCP’s Certification Maintenance Program means for you

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: Billing/accounts receivable systems - May 2004 (PDF document, 411 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

April 2004

Cover Story:
The lowdown on hospital blood sugars

Feature Stories:
Rapid HIV test a weathervane for waived tests
Clues pile up, suggesting broad BNP role
Rolling out a statewide system for patient safety
Reeling in outreach work: How to catch the big ones
Erbitux makes its entrance, with test in tow
Staying ahead of the AP pack—three key steps
Your CPT Questions

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: Chemistry analyzers (for low-volume laboratories) - April 2004 (PDF document, 1,130 K)
Survey of Instruments: Bedside glucose testing systems - April 2004 - April 2004 (PDF document, 368 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

March 2004

Cover Story:
ASR issues up in the air

Feature Stories:
It’s a small world: Making the most of modest means
The latest on IMA levels, high and low
Creatinine results one step closer to the mark
Handling bones and other calcified tissue
Spirit of the law
Calling time-out on digoxin results
Moving the sicker quicker with ER point-of-care tests
Sure-handed sampling

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: On the road to automation, proceed with caution - March 2004 (PDF document, 121 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

February 2004

Cover Story:
Fast without the furious-surgical POC testing

Feature Stories:
Swinging for the fences with prostate cancer tissue bank
Fleshing out molecular pathology reports
Building a better biosurveillance system
Keeping up with the calendar for cytogenetics checklist
Queries and comments
CLA polishes checklist
Direct access testing gains another foothold
Gateway to the rest
Cancer assay could provide individual risk of recurrence
21-gene panel
Your CPT Questions

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
System Review Series: Making a case for computers to ’talk the talk’ - February 2004 (PDF document, 108 K)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A
Newsbytes

January 2004

Cover Story:
New school of FISH: solid tumor testing

Feature Stories:
Delivering the goods to microbiology labs
Transporting fluids, blood cultures, and more
Broader net’ cast for new IT conference
Freeze is first step in setting blood payments
Two more for molecular methods: CNS, GBS
Range Rovers: Worrisome gaps persist in heparin therapy monitoring
In with the new—CPT 2004 charged with changes
What’s cool in coag: clot signature curves

PAP/NGC Programs Review
Revised Bethesda atlas fine-tuned and first-rate
Hailing clinical history in the Pap smear requisition
Management schemes for minimally abnormal cervical smears
Papillary breast lesions in fine-needle aspiration biopsy specimens
Unsatisfactory slides added to 2004 gyn graded slide sets
Q&A
Newsbytes

President’s Desk:
President’s Column

Regular Features:
Survey of Instruments: What’s cool in coag: clot signature curves - January 2004 - (PDF document, 1.77 MB)
Clinical Abstracts
Anatomic Abstracts
Q & A

Survey Library