Issue: Volume XII No. 1 - January 3, 2005

Government Health Contracting Has a Seamy Side

WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO YOUR LABORATORY if either or both Medicare and your state’s Medicaid program initiated some type of competitive bidding for laboratory testing services? I’ll bet there would be a level of financial pain, not to mention the consequences to physicians and patients as long-standing laboratory relationships were changed in favor of the …

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OIG Releases Opinion On AP Lab Condominiums

CEO SUMMARY: In responding to a request for an advisory opinion, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued an advisory opinion which declares that anatomic pathology (AP) lab condominiums “could potentially generate prohibited remuneration under the anti-kickback statute.” It also voices concerns about how the operation of such AP laboratory condos could violate the …

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Analysis of OIG’s Opinion Shows Compliance Shift

CEO SUMMARY: Attorney Richard Cooper believes the latest Advisory Opinion by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is consistent with its earlier anti-kickback law pronouncements about situations where a physician is in a position to profit from the patients he/she refers. Cooper also comments on the vulnerability of the anatomic pathology laboratory condominium to …

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More Lab Consolidation: LabCorp Buys US LABS

CEO SUMMARY: Following three years of rapid growth in specimen volume and revenues, US LABS has accepted a purchase offer from Laboratory Corporation of America. Both US LABS’ fast growth and its sale to a national lab demonstrate that there is still opportunity in laboratory testing—and that one of the two blood brothers is ever …

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Roche/Affymetrix Microarray Cleared for Clinical Use by FDA

MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS took a big step forward in December. During the month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first microarray instrument system and microarray-based laboratory test for clinical use. The FDA announced on December 23, 2004 that it had cleared the Gene-Chip® System (GCS) 3000Dx for clinical use. Affymetrix, Inc. of Santa Clara, …

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“January 3, 2005 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

More evidence of the move to an all computer economy has surfaced. During 2003, consumer use of credit cards, debit cards, and other electronic payment methods eclipsed paper checks for the first time. The study was done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. It reports that 36.7 billion checks were paid in 2003, for …

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