By maryv
CEO SUMMARY: Publication of the draft CMS Physician Fee Schedule on July 12 brought unwelcome news for the clinical lab industry, at least as it pertains to that perennial question: Should hospital lab outreach data be included in a PAMA market study? The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must conduct a new market
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
FOR ALL CLINICAL LABORATORIES AND PATHOLOGISTS, the hacking problems Laboratory Corporation of America experienced earlier this month are a reminder that unwanted IT attacks are not a matter of if, but when. It is an accepted fact that labs and other medical providers are at higher risk of such attacks because computer hackers value patients’
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In the Province of Québec, an ambitious project is under-way to consolidate the clinical laboratory testing of 123 laboratories into 11 centralized lab clusters. It is one of the largest lab consolidation projects nowhappening in the world. Among the goals of this project is to improve qualityand efficiency while incurring no additional costs.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: New national lab contracts that LabCorp and Quest announced in May could disrupt the lab testing market in ways regional labs can exploit, experts said. Health plans entered these new contracts after realizing that the exclusive network contracts do not work, one lab consultant explained, adding that large national labs will compete with
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 11 – July 30, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Publication of the draft Medicare Physician Fee Schedule on July 12 brought unwelcome news for the clinical lab industry, at least as it pertains to whether hospital lab outreach data should be included in the PAMA market study that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must conduct. In the draft rule,
By maryv
CEO SUMMARY: As the debate grows more heated, supporters of hospital outpatient department (HOPD) billing schemes have ramped up their defense of the practice. The president of the National Association of Rural Hospitals tells THE DARK REPORT that rural hospitals are permitted to bill for hospital lab outreach program services under Medicare’s 70/30 shell rule.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 10 – July 9, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In recent years, many rural hospitals have entered into agreements to expand their laboratory outreach businesses. In an interview, the president of the National Association of Rural Hospitals said rural hospitals often bill for lab outreach services under Medicare’s 70/30 shell rule. This rule, as modified by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 10 – July 9, 2018 issue
IT’S TIME FOR ALL CLINICAL LABS AND ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY GROUPS to pay closer attention to the advances in genetic medicine and precision medicine. Events are moving even faster than most experts have predicted.
As you will read on pages 3-4, two innovative health networks are on the verge of offering sophisticated genetic tests to patients visiting
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 9 – June 18, 2018 issue
In New Jersey last week, David Nicoll, 44, the former owner of Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services (BLS) of Parsippany, N.J. was sentenced to 72 months in a federal prison. On the same day, his brother, Scott Nicoll, 37, who also worked at BLS, was sentenced to 43 months in prison. Both had previously pled guilty to U.S.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 9 – June 18, 2018 issue
THERE IS A NEW SOURCE OF LOST BUSINESS for physicians, clinical laboratories, and others. Patients are losing patience with confusing bills from their providers and opting to find new providers who offer simple, clear, and consistent bills. This turnover in patients was one key finding in a recently-published report.
The report, issued by InstaMed, a national
