In recent years, the field of biomedical and clinical research has seen the adaptation of genomic, proteomic and other omics-based approaches in understanding the mechanisms of diseases. The approach has also been useful in the identification of biomarkers for diagnostics and therapeutic development.

The early adopters of microsampling technology include some of the most innovative companies, scientists, and institutions in clinical research and healthcare. We’ve explored the work of Altasciences before, and we’re not surprised to discover that their appetite for innovation extends beyond anti-epileptic drug monitoring, extraction methodology, and clinical research per se, into the realm of dried blood sample storage.

Last year, the federal government made a move to cut reimbursements made to toxicology laboratories. This is expected to save the government over $3 billion in the next five years. Although this may make a positive impact to the federal government, it cannot be said the same about toxicology laboratories in the U.S. Like every other decision made, the move to cut the amount of money budgeted for the toxicology laboratories has both positive and negative impacts on them. Some of the impacts of these reimbursement cuts include:

In toxicology labs and in the fields of clinical trials and clinical research, there are often some question marks about what expenses can be reimbursed through Medicare and Medicaid.

In the United States, Medicare is run by a federal agency known as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which gets funding from the Medicare taxes and social security funds you pay on your income. Medicaid, on the other hand, is a program by the government that provides health insurance to cover people whose incomes are limited. The central government funds it in collaboration with the states.

"When people ask us, 'what do your customers do?' the answer, more and more, is 'what do they NOT do?'" - David Grossman

Laboratories carry out tests in different ways, from test to test and lab to lab. This can cause discrepancies that affect results. The results are important since they are used to determine the health status of the patient and the kind of treatment they will get. These discrepancies have increased the need for harmonization to improve the healthcare system.