TAG:
diagnosis code
Medicare Carrier Proposes No Pay for Vitamin D Test
CEO SUMMARY: Medicare contractor NGS wants to end payment to labs and physicians for routine Vitamin D testing. In a proposed local coverage determination (LCD), the Medicare carrier says it would cover Vitamin D testing only for patients with chronic kidney disease, osteomalacia…
2008’s Top Ten Lab Stories Lacked Disruptive Impact
CEO SUMMARY: For the first time in recent memory, a year has passed without major tumult or disruptive change in the laboratory industry. Our list of the Top Ten Most Important Stories of 2008 reflects a rather quiet year when compared to most years of this decade. Howeve…
ICD-10 Conversion Costs Underestimated by HHS
CEO SUMMARY: Criticism of the October 1, 2011 implementation date for ICD-10 is building. Last week, a new study was released that highlights how federal officials underestimated the costs and time required to implement the complex new codes for ICD-10. One large national laboratory compa…
Implementation Date For ICD-10 Is Proposed
CEO SUMMARY: Even though the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 will not be required until 2011, laboratories and pathology groups should have a transition plan in place. ICD-10’s 155,000 seven-digit codes will replace the 17,000 five-digit codes of ICD-9. Because of major…
Pumping Up Performance of Lab Billing & Collections
CEO SUMMARY: Coding, billing, collections, and compliance continue to grow in complexity, making management of the lab’s revenue cycle ever more difficult. One by one, a number of the nation’s largest laboratories are taking steps to automate management of their revenue cycle by utili…
Sonic Healthcare & CPL Make First Acquisition
CEO SUMMARY: Expanding from its base in Texas, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc. (CPL) has acquired Cognoscenti Health Institute, LLC of Orlando, Florida. The deal was done discreetly and gives Sonic Healthcare, Ltd., parent of CPL, a solid foothold in Florida. Cognoscenti has also ma…
“New” Legal Landmines For Clinical Laboratories
CEO SUMMARY: HIPAA is a big “new” source of legal expo- sure for laboratories and other healthcare providers. Also, recent court decisions and changes in clinical practices are adding to the legal risk for labs. Attorney Richard S. Cooper offers insights on how laboratories can better…
Doc “Bill-Back” Policy Rewritten at LabCorp
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory compliance continues to evolve. In response to changes it sees in the lab marketplace, Laboratory Corporation of America instituted a fundamental change in its policy toward billing back physicians who fail to provide documentation necessary for the lab to successf…
Medicare “Bill Back” Policies Vary By Lab
CEO SUMMARY: When it comes to the subject of Medicare medical necessity, the classic “compliance conundrum” is again at work. Laboratories with conservative, strict compliance policies believe they are at a disadvantage at retaining physician-clients and winning new accounts when comp…
Lab Test Ordering On Web Presents Tough Challenges
CEO SUMMARY: During 1999, many factors pointed to the speedy introduction of Web-based lab test ordering between physicians’ offices and their laboratory providers. Several credible players, like Healtheon/ WebMD (now WebMD) and Advanced Health Technologies, held numerous contracts to i…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 4 – March 10, 2025
A bold new technology has entered the European lab marketplace, with the introduction of an autonomous robotic phlebotomy device, already in service at a Netherlands hospital. Also, The Dark Report announces its sale to LabX Media Group of Ontario Canada.
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