Laboratory Billing
The laboratory billing process is the interaction between a clinical lab or pathology group and the insurance company (payer). The entirety of this laboratory billing interaction is known as the billing cycle, which can take anywhere from several days to several months to complete, and require several interactions before a resolution is reached. The entire process is the function of what is commonly known as the laboratory coding/billing/collections department.
Laboratory billing starts with laboratory coding. After a lab service is provided, diagnosis and procedure codes are assigned. These codes assist the insurance company in determining coverage and medical necessity of the services. The codes used for laboratory billing are the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, usually called by the short-form name International Classification of Diseases (ICD), and the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes.
The ICD is the international “standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes.” The current version is ICD-9, with ICD 10 scheduled to become the new standard on Oct. 15, 2015. It is maintained by the World Health Organization, the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations System.
The ICD is designed as a health care classification system, providing a system of diagnostic codes for classifying diseases, including nuanced classifications of a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease.
The CPT code set is a medical code set maintained by the American Medical Association through the CPT Editorial Panel. The CPT (copyright protected by the AMA) describes medical, surgical, and diagnostic services and is designed to communicate uniform information about medical services and procedures among physicians, coders, patients, accreditation organizations, and payers for administrative, financial, and analytical purposes.
Once the procedure and diagnosis codes are determined, the lab bill enters the laboratory collections/revenue cycle management phase. The payer is usually billed electronically by formatting the claim as an ANSI 837 file and using Electronic Data Interchange to submit the claim file to the payer directly or via a clearinghouse. The payer processes the claims usually by medical claims examiners or medical claims adjusters. For higher dollar amount claims, the insurance company has medical directors review the claims and evaluate their validity for payment using rubrics (procedure) for patient eligibility, provider credentials, and medical necessity.
Approved claims are reimbursed for a certain percentage of the billed services. These rates are pre-negotiated between the health care provider and the insurance company. Failed claims are denied or rejected and notice is sent to provider. Most commonly, denied or rejected claims are returned to providers in the form of Explanation of Benefits (EOB) or Electronic Remittance Advice.
Upon receiving the denial message the provider must decipher the message, reconcile it with the original claim, make required corrections and resubmit the claim. This exchange of claims and denials may be repeated multiple times until a claim is paid in full, or the provider relents and accepts an incomplete reimbursement.
Two Blood Brothers Report Declines in Revenue-Per-Req
REIMBURSEMENT FOR CLINICAL laboratory testing has declined, particularly for molecular tests. As a consequence, the nation’s two largest laboratory testing companies are feeling the negative effect of lower lab test prices. Both Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laborator…
CMS Ready To Hack Away at Cost of Lab Testing
CEO SUMMARY: In July, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published three proposed rules which would allow it to act independently of Congress to set prices for clinical laboratory testing and pathology services. Analyses of these proposed rules indicate that th…
BlueCard Policy Causing Clinical Labs to Go Unpaid
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories doing lab test work for Blue Cross Blue Shield patients using their BlueCard benefit are no longer being paid by the Blues plans. Some Blues plans are sending those reimbursement checks directly to their members with instructions for the patient to use t…
Report Shows Price Drop for Most Molecular Tests
CEO SUMMARY: In recent weeks, labs are reporting that Medicare contractors have begun to issue payments for molecular test claims filed—but unpaid—since January 1, 2013. A newly-issued analysis of this situation by Quorum Consulting indicates that, for many molecular assays, Medicare …
Medicare Contractor’s Ruling on MolDx Test Causes Lab to Close
CEO SUMMARY: On May 14, Predictive Biosciences learned that its Medicare contractor had determined that one of its three molecular tests for bladder cancer was a screening test. It also never got a determination on its other two molecular tests. Because Medicare is half of the lab’s pay…
Big Lab Industry Stories Reveal Trouble Ahead
CEO SUMMARY: One after another, a series of breaking news stories points to more rough waters ahead for the entire clinical lab industry. Of greatest interest is the ongoing questions about when clinical labs and pathology groups will get paid for the molecular test claims they have submi…
Labs Have New Hurdles as Some Payments Start
CEO SUMMARY: Some payments are beginning to flow for claims submitted under the new molecular test CPT codes. But there is a new issue. Medicare contractors, Medicaid programs, and private health insurers are deeming certain molecular tests to be medically unnecessary. Th…
Labs Face Consequences from MolDx Test ‘Mess’
CEO SUMMARY: Non-payment of molecular test claims for the first five months of 2013 is not the only financial disruption for labs that perform these tests. Reports are coming in about how Medicare contractors, Medicaid programs, and private payers are declining to pay claims based on ruli…
Much Uncertainty About Pay for Molecular Codes
CEO SUMMARY: Having gone unpaid since January 1 for the 114 new molecular CPT codes, many clinical labs and pathology groups have stopped running these tests or laid off staff. Some are considering closing their doors. Evidence indicates that certain Medicare contractors are deciding that…
Payers Bolix MDx Codes, Labs Unpaid for Months
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories complain that implementation of a new payment system for molecular tests has been a disaster since January 1. Most contractors for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have not paid labs for molecular tests billed thi…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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