Leonel Palatnik, 42, co-owner of Dallas-based Panda Conservation Group, a medical lab company, pleaded guilty Aug. 31 for his role in a $73 million Medicare kickback conspiracy, according to a Justice Department news release. Mr. Palatnik paid kickbacks to a telehealth company in exchange for orders for medically unnecessary genetic testing. 

Dallas-based Kai Medical Laboratory will offer free COVID-19 testing in 500 Texas schools, Steven McAuley, CEO of the lab's parent company Empower Clinics, told Proactive. The lab can guarantee free testing thanks to its recent registration with the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act program.

With a new school year underway, Indianapolis-based testing lab Aria Diagnostics is seeing four times as many COVID-19 test requests as before schools reopened, Fox 59 reported. Most of the requests are coming from pediatricians.

Nashville, Tenn.-based lab services company PathGroup acquired Birmingham, Ala.-based DermLab, an independent dermatopathology laboratory, the company said Aug. 30. The move is the company's latest in a series of acquisitions in the southeastern U.S.

Nine laboratory companies appeared on Inc. 5000's 2021 list of fastest-growing private companies.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that monoclonal antibody treatments using casirivimab and imdevimab kept high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital, Mayo Clinic said Aug. 30.

Explora BioLabs, a preclinical biotechnology research company, opened a new vivarium — a plant and animal research lab — on Aug. 23.

Spectra Laboratories, a subsidiary of kidney care company Fresenius Medical Care, has opened a 200,000-square-foot renal lab in Southaven, Miss., the DeSoto Times-Tribune reported Aug. 20.

Despite recent COVID-19 surges largely due to the spread of the delta variant and vaccine hesitancy, most physicians and their patients are legally prevented from knowing which variant infected them because of regulatory hurdles, Insider reported.

Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Hospital & Medical Center has completed a new 3,100-square-foot COVID-19 testing lab, the New England Real Estate Journal reported Aug. 20.

Louisville, Ky.-based Mary & Elizabeth Hospital announced a new cardiac catheterization lab, which opened June 24. The lab guarantees round-the-clock care for severe heart attack patients.

Clinical lab technologists and technicians in Arkansas earn the lowest mean wage in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wages report. Those in Mississippi don't fare much better.

The American Society for Clinical Pathology is calling on policymakers to immediately pass a COVID-19 vaccine mandate — and on private sector leaders to intervene if policymakers fail to act.

Through a year and a half of pandemic hardships, the medical community has by and large risen to meet the moment. Below are 75 of the most outstanding and inspirational pathology and laboratory medicine professionals of 2021, according to The Pathologist.

Labcorp announced on Aug. 12 that it has acquired Ovia Health, a popular digital pregnancy and parenting platform based in Boston. Neither company disclosed details of the deal.

AdventHealth Tampa lab techs are sounding the alarm on the unique nature of the current COVID-19 surge in Florida through a local ABC news report.

Fulgent Genetics, a genetic test company focused on oncology, rare diseases and reproductive health, dove further into somatic molecular diagnostics and cancer testing with a recent acquisition.

Discoveries made at New York City-based HSS laboratories in the early 2000s led to a new treatment for adults with moderate to severe systemic lupus erythematosus.

Clinical lab technologists and technicians earn the highest mean wage in Alaska, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wages report.

Lab directors see big opportunities to expand services and grow within their organizations in the coming year, especially focused on outpatient services and consumer preferences.