Clinical Laboratory Trends
Clinical laboratories, where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, are facing numerous challenging trends as healthcare reform continues to evolve.
Some of these clinical laboratory trends include:
- The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014.
Under PAMA, many clinical lab organizations will see a substantial decline over the coming years in the prices paid to them for the highest-volume lab tests reimbursed under Medicare Part B. The law specifies that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) can begin enacting those price cuts in 2017.
- Laboratory benefit management program
The laboratory benefit management program is a controversial program created by UnitedHealthcare in 2014. All outpatient laboratory services for members who are part of the Laboratory Benefit Management Program are subject to new requirements including advance notification and new medical policies.
Physicians serving UHC’s commercial patients in Florida must notify UHC when ordering any of 80 clinical laboratory tests. Pre-authorization is also required for certain tests.
During its introduction phase, the program has generated widespread resistance from Florida physicians, who protest that it will cause unnecessary delays for patient treatment, and undue burdens for doctors ordering tests. In addition to problems with lab test pre-notification algorithms within the BeaconLBS system, other problems cited by physicians include the exclusion of all but 13 Florida labs from the BeaconLBS “laboratory of choice network.”
- Accountable care organizations
ACOs are the product of a provision in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. They are integrated care networks of providers with the ability to provide care to, and manage patients, across the continuum of care that should include different institutional settings, such as ambulatory care, inpatient hospital care, and even post-acute care. Clinical labs have had difficulty gaining entry into newly- forming ACOs.
At the same time, a positive clinical laboratory trend is the increasing popularity of personalized medicine (PM), a medical model that proposes the customization of healthcare – with medical decisions, practices, and/or products being tailored to the individual patient. In this model, diagnostic testing is critically important, as it is often employed for selecting appropriate and optimal therapies based on the context of a patient’s genetic content or other molecular or cellular analysis.
Humana Reduces Number of Labs in its Networks
CEO SUMMARY: In Ohio, a lab director said his lab was not informed directly about its exclusion from the Humana lab network. Lab officials got the word from their client physicians. In Texas, another lab director said Humana cut 35 lab contracts, reportedly because the insurer wanted to s…
Physicians and Labs Wary of United’s Lab Test Program
CEO SUMMARY: Providers seem to have a natural distrust of health insurers, particularly when payers introduce new programs with the stated purpose of improving quality and ensuring that physicians deliver evidence-based medicine. Doctors serving members of UHC’s HMO plans in Florida are…
Philly Blue Cross Contract: LabCorp In; Quest Out
CEO SUMMARY: Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia decided to select Laboratory Corporation of America for its new eight-year managed care contract that took effect on July 1. However, the real story is the aggressive bidding war between the two national labs. Sources say LabCorp bid an…
UnitedHealthcare, BeaconLBS Respond with Statements
IN FLORIDA, BOTH CLINICAL LABS and physicians have expressed concerns UnitedHealthcare’s Laboratory presented in full on this page and the following page. about Benefit Management Program that formally becomes effective on October 1. From that date forward, physicians will be requi…
Florida Doctor Questions Lab Test Pre-notification
CEO SUMMARY: An interesting tug-of-war may develop in Florida between a major health insurer and physicians. UnitedHealthcare will require physicians to obtain a pre-notification number for 81 lab tests by using the BeaconLBS system (developed by a subsidiary of LabCorp). One family pract…
Lab Copay on the Table, But for Now, It’s Australia
CEO SUMMARY: Patient copayment is the idea that always appeals to government health officials who want to control healthcare costs. In Australia, Parliament has yet to vote on a bill that would, starting in July 2015, institute a patient copayment of $7.00 Australian for …
Futurist Predicts Less Margin, More Consolidation in Market
CEO SUMMARY: Based on interviews with 40 CEOs of major healthcare companies, one expert says that the next three years will bring major changes to healthcare. In his presentation at the Executive War College, Ted Schwab noted that these changes include a swift adoption of budgeted care (a…
Excluding Lab Competitors Helps Big Labs Grab Greater Market Share
CEO SUMMARY: Changes in healthcare are motivating health insurers and the nation’s largest lab testing companies to enter into contracts in which the large lab company lowers its lab test prices to the payer in return for having the payer exclude that lab company’s toughest competitor…
Speakers in New Orleans Offer Important Insights
CEO SUMMARY: In coming years, there will be multiple challenges and opportunities for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. That was one common theme heard from the 90 speakers and panelists at the 19th annual Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Manageme…
Clinical Labs Spending Money in New Ways
CEO SUMMARY: In response to the many changes now unfolding in the U.S. healthcare system, labs are investing their scarce capital in different ways. Five trends in lab spending can be identified. They range from expanding the informatics capabilities of a lab organization to acquiring the…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 7 – May 12, 2025
Economic, Tech changes drive lab concerns, The Dark Report provides insights from the Executive War College speakers about how clinical labs can use business strategies and tactics to handle the new tariffs, future regulations, and artificial intelligence (AI). Also, this issue provides guidance on how labs and pathologists should prepare for payer audits.
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