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Medicare Taken to Task about Molecular Test Pricing Method

EDITOR’S NOTE: Submitted by Lâle White, CEO of XIFIN, Inc., of Carlsbad, California, this letter describes the problems caused by the Medicare program’s failure, as of January 1, 2013, to be ready to process and reimburse lab test claims for more than 100 new mo…

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ACO Numbers Increase, Now Cover 10% of Nation

CEO SUMMARY: A recent report by a consulting firm that tracks the ACO industry indicates that, as of the end of 2012, ACOs of all types involved—in some manner—between 25 and 31 million patients. Moreover, Medicare and private ACOs are located in regions where 45% of the population of…

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First-Mover Labs Reveal Success with Lean & QMS

CEO SUMMARY: There is good news for those clinical labs and pathology groups currently operating robust Lean, Six Sigma, and process improvement programs. The Institute of Medicine’s new report calls for all healthcare providers to rapidly transform themselves into ‘continuously learn…

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Sonic Healthcare, Bio-Reference Report Financial Performance

IN RECENT WEEKS, two of the nation’s larger public laboratory companies issued their earnings reports. In both cases, revenue growth was strong, a distinct difference from the recent financial performance of their two largest lab public company competitors. It was on August 21, 2012, when …

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Pathologists in China, U.S. Linked By Digital Pathology

CEO Summary: It is one of the first clinical collaborations of this type to be anchored by use of digital pathology. Pathologists at the medical schools of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) are exc…

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Existing CLIA Language Drives PT Enforcement

CEO SUMMARY: Revocation of a lab’s CLIA license as penalty for inadvertent errors in handling proficiency tests (PT) is not a new problem. As explained here, most clinical laboratories have appropriate protocols for handling PT samples. But, when errors occur, the Centers for Medicare &…

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CMS Proposes Sanctions Against OSU Laboratory

CEO SUMMARY: As its reward for self-reporting the referral of six proficiency testing (PT) specimens in three years, the laboratory at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) has been told by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that its CLIA license could b…

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Employers, Payers Are Challenging ‘High’ Test Prices

ONE NATIONAL TREND IN CLINICAL LABORATORY TESTING that has not yet gotten wide play outside the pages of THE DARK REPORT is the emergence of what might be termed a “war” by national and regional health insurers against the “higher” prices often charged by hospital laboratories. This is a key…

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In Florida, New Law Bans Certain Lab Sales Practices

CEO SUMMARY: Florida law has long prohibited clinical laboratories from giving kickbacks and other forms of remuneration to physicians to induce specimen referrals. Specifically, state regulations have prevented labs from placing specimen collectors in physicians’ offices. Despite these…

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Magnets to Move Tubes on ARUP’s Testing Line

CEO SUMMARY: In Salt Lake City, Utah, work is underway to pioneer use of an electro-magnetic conveyor system to automate the movement of large volumes of lab test specimens throughout the testing facility of ARUP Laboratories. Within two years, this new lab automation technology could all…

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