By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
IN RECENT DAYS, RUMORS HAVE SURFACED that UnitedHealthcare has begun to terminate the contracts it holds with a number of regional and non-national clinical laboratories.
This news surfaced just as The Dark Report went to press. Given its importance to the clinical laboratory industry, we wanted to alert lab executives and pathologists to this development as
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Legislation signed into law on Oct. 24 was designed to stem the nation’s opioid crisis. But in addition to applying to sober homes and addiction treatment centers, the law also applies to clinical laboratories. Called the ‘Support for Patients and Communities Act,’ the law could authorize criminal penalties for labs that pay sales
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: At the last minute, Congress added all clinical laboratories to a far-reaching anti-kickback provision in the newly-enacted Support for Patients and Communities Act. This provision applies to all payers, both government and private. Lab experts say this new law could have a negative effect on patient care because it could make relatively innocuous
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
Traditionally, the new year is a time of optimism. People make resolutions such as exercising more and losing weight. Companies get to start the year with a fresh budget and the new opportunity to achieve their goals.
Unfortunately, events of the last 90 days of this year are not auspicious for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology
This is a summary of two articles in the Nov. 13, 2018 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete articles are available only to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: On Nov. 2, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its Physician Fee Schedule for 2019. CMS says it will expand
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue
BUILDING ON THE LESSONS IT LEARNED by developing lab services that helped primary care physicians identify, diagnose, and treat diabetes patients in their practices, Sonic Healthcare USA was ready to do the same for another disease.
Sonic wanted to go beyond simply reporting an accurate and timely lab test result. Instead, it wanted to leverage the
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: No bigger threat looms over the financial security of the nation’s clinical laboratories than healthcare’s transition from fee-for-service payment to value-based reimbursement. To navigate that transition successfully, medical labs and pathology groups will need to adopt the Clinical Lab 2.0 model. Member labs of Project Santa Fe are themselves working to develop and
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: On Nov. 2, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its Physician Fee Schedule for 2019. It says it will expand the number of labs from which it collects data about the lab test prices paid by private health insurers. While some labs may welcome these changes, groups representing clinical laboratories
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 15 – October 22, 2018 issue
Many pathologists currently leading academic pathology programs and private pathology groups got some of their best business advice from Laurence J. Peterson, CPA. For more than 30 years, Peterson was involved in the operation of both clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups throughout the nation.
Peterson’s family reported that he died on December 25, 2017. He
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 15 – October 22, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Is it a violation of federal healthcare laws when clinical labs pay physicians to mail specimens and/or forgive all or part of patients’ copayments and deductibles? A federal judge’s ruling in a lawsuit against Boston Heart Diagnostics last month dealing with these two actions created a precedent that could affect all labs. It
