TAG:
clinical laboratory test
Congress’ New SGR Law Has Mixed News for Labs
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…
New Federal Law Changes How CMS Sets Lab Prices
CEO SUMMARY: CMS wanted more power to cut the prices it pays for clinical lab testing. A significant part of the lab industry wanted more transparency and consistency in how CMS established coverage guidelines and prices for new lab tests. Congress appears to have attempted to craft a law…
March 17, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
People walking down a street in Weatherford, Connecticut on March 10, found lab test reports for at least 16 patients, according to a news report by a local television news station. This is a breach of protected health information (PHI) under the federal HIPAA statute. Reporters from WSFB contacted o…
New Mass Spectrometry Toxicology Test Delivers Clinical Benefits
CEO SUMMARY: Researchers at the University of Colorado in Aurora used mass spectrometry technology to create a paradigm-shifting toxicology test. It uses a urine specimen and can identify 112 compounds and more than 500 illicit and brand-name drugs in a single assay. For pain management t…
Medicare OPPS Rule Has Pitfalls for Labs
CEO SUMMARY: On January 1, the new Medicare rule for requiring bundled or packaged reimbursement for certain services covered by the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) became effective. Just four days earlier (on December 27), Medicare officials issued instructions on h…
Sonora Quest Builds EMPI To Serve Patients and ACOs
CEO SUMMARY: Probably no state has seen a faster transition to ACOs, medical homes, and other types of integrated clinical care organizations than Arizona. Recognizing that this change created a new opportunity to add more value with clinical lab testing services, Sonora Quest Laboratorie…
Claritas Is Example of New Lab Business Model
CEO SUMMARY: One by one, new business models for clinical laboratory testing are popping up. Each is a response to healthcare’s rapid evolution, the ongoing decline in lab test reimbursement, and the growing role for molecular diagnostics and genetic testing. In Cambridge, Massachusetts…
Good Information Drives Good Decisions
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS DEMONSTRATE that a long-standing business adage remains as true today as when many of us first learned it decades ago. I am referring to the pithy piece of management wisdom often written as: “You need good information to make good decisions.” It is a trait held in common by …
Study Reveals Medicare Already Pays Low Rates
CEO SUMMARY: Researchers studied a database containing laboratory test prices paid in 2012 on behalf of 56 million Americans covered by private health plans and determined that, for most tests, and in most regions, Medicare already pays less than private health insurers for clinical labor…
Tennessee BCBS Cuts Lab Fees to 52% of Medicare
CEO SUMMARY: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has notified physicians that, starting January 1, it will reduce what it pays for lab testing to 52% of Medicare fees. Officials with the state medical association have been unable to get definitive answers to questions about what tests wou…
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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