Lab Risk & Compliance
Labs Must Audit Their Cybersecurity Measures
CEO SUMMARY: While clinical laboratory managers and pathologists are aware of the risks of a data breach, they often assume that related protection measures are working as needed. That is a mistake. With the cost of healthcare data breaches on the rise, it is vitally important for l…
Attorney Advises Labs to Track Genetic Test LCDs
CEO SUMMARY: Skyrocketing numbers of genetic test referrals and telehealth claims since 2016 are getting the full attention of both federal prosecutors and auditors from Medicare and private health insurers. The DOJ has filed criminal cases against a growing number of telehealth pro…
Feds Target Genetic Test and Telemedicine Fraud
MEDICARE FRAUD TOTALING $562 MILLION in genetic and cardiovascular tests is at the heart of recent federal criminal cases involving telemedicine that names clinical laboratory owners, physicians, and healthcare marketers as defendants. A host of indictm…
On Appeal, ACLA Gains PAMA Victory in Court
CEO SUMMARY: Last month, a U.S. Court of Appeals issued a ruling that criticized how the Department of Health and Human Services originally implemented the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA). This ruling was a win for the American Clinical Laboratory Association in its…
Clinical Laboratories Face 20% Increase in CLIA Fees
CHANGES HAVE BEEN PROPOSED to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) that would raise fees by 20% for clinical laboratories and amend certain testing personnel qualifications. The American Hospital Association (AHA) has obj…
OIG: 25% of Medicare Inpatients ‘Harmed in Hospitals’ Pre-COVID
CEO SUMMARY: This year’s report to Congress on patient harm in hospitals—prepared by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)—determined that one in four Medicare beneficiaries suffered harm while an inpatient in a hospital. The report garnered little attention outside the he…
Passage of FDA Regulation of LDTs Inches Closer in the Senate
CONGRESSIONAL LAWMAKERS ARE MOVING A BILL FORWARD that would give the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate laboratory-developed tests. There are many in the clinical laboratory profession who oppose any proposal to give the FDA regulatory oversight of LDTs. …
DOJ Charges Execs over Alleged Lab Kickbacks to Obtain Restitution
CEO SUMMARY: Multiple executives and sales representatives at True Health Diagnostics and Boston Heart Diagnostics have been named as defendants in a civil suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. The complaint centers on alleged kickbacks in return for clinical laboratory test…
Seven Doctors Settle Lab Test Fraud Case
CEO SUMMARY: In January, a U.S. Attorney from East Texas announced that seven physicians and a hospital CEO had agreed to settle allegations of fraud involving the payment of bribes in exchange for lab test orders. This is a positive development for the clinical laboratory profession because it…
Federal Prosecutors Describe Illegal Lab Bribes to Physicians
PATHOLOGISTS AND CLINICAL LAB MANAGERS SHOULD WELCOME every federal prosecution of a physician who accepts illegal bribes and inducements in exchange for laboratory test referrals. If physicians understood that federal prosecutors would file criminal charges against them for this behavior, fewer doct…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 6 – April 29, 2024
Laboratory managers will want to note that The Dark Report itself was targeted by the fraudsters who hit Change Health in a cyberattack. Also, one lab has some innovative methods of combatting the chronic staffing shortage, including hiring college graduates and students.
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