Biggest Lab Firms Diverge on Hospital Lab Strategies

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Almost half of the nation’s hospitals and health systems are rethinking how to use their clinical labs to support clinical and financial strategies. Options range from outright sale of their lab outreach businesses to lab management agreements or joint ventures with one of …

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September 18, 2017 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 13 – September 18, 2017 Issue

Last week, 23andMe raised $250 million in a financing round led by Sequoia Capital. The company has an estimated value of $1.75 billion and has attracted $491 mill…

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Lab Innovators Advocate Need for Clinical Lab 2.0

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 2 – January 30, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: It is generally recognized that the clinical lab industry faces a financial squeeze of unprecedented dimensions. Lab test prices are falling steadily and more major cuts are coming to Medicare Part B fees in just 11 months. At the same time, obtaining favorable coverage and r…

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Will Coming Medicare Fee Cuts Reduce Access to Laboratory Tests?

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIII No. 16 – November 28, 2016 Issue

SEVERAL IMPORTANT clinical laboratory associations are concerned that the lab test price reporting under the Patient Access to Medicare Act of 2014 will have a negative effect on diagnostic innovation and on Medicare beneficiaries’ access to lab testing services. The American Clinical Laboratory A…

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Why Small Labs and Even Hospitals Are at Risk from PAMA Cuts

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIII No. 16 – November 28, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Clinical lab executives and experts who have studied the final rule for PAMA lab test market price reporting are seriously concerned that the design of this rule may put many of the nation’s smallest, but still essential, clinical labs at great risk of financial distress, i…

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Just 66 of 742 Labs Submit Rate Data to California Department of Health Care Services

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXIII No. 5 – April 11, 2016 Issue

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Florida Legislators to Hold Hearing on Bill About Payer Use of Decision Support for Lab Orders

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIII, No. 1 – January 19, 2016 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Physicians in Florida and their state medical associations continue to battle UnitedHealth over its laboratory benefit management program that uses the lab test ordering system by BeaconLBS, a business unit of LabCorp. The latest round in this fight is language in a Florida S…

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Are Clinical Labs and MACs Ready to Implement ICD-10?

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXII NO. 9 – June 22, 2015 Issue

ARE CLINICAL LABORATORIES and pathology groups prepared for ICD-10? Or, perhaps a better question to ask is this: Are Medicare administrative contractors prepared to switch to ICD-10 on October 1? A recent survey of clinical laboratories and pathology groups by McKesson Corporation showed th…

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Congress’ New SGR Law Has Mixed News for Labs

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXI No. 5 – April 7, 2014 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Once again, the lab industry faces a mixed bag following passage of a new law by Congress last week. Besides the one-year fix for the SGR, H.R. 4302 also has language that may defer adjustments to Medicare Part B lab test fees until 2017 and creates a new procedure for Medica…

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April 07, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXI No. 5 – April 7, 2014 Issue

In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service’s (NHS) biggest consolidation of clinical laboratory services is expected to take place in May, after the government’s Office of Fair Trading said it will conduct no further investigation into the project. Six health trusts are c…

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