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Fee-for-service

Fee-for-service has long been the primary payment model for clinical laboratories and pathology groups. Fee-for-service (FFS) is a payment model in which services are paid for as itemized in the provider’s invoice. It gives an incentive for physicians to provide more treatments because payment is dependent on the quantity of care, rather than quality of care. Similarly, patients are incentivized to welcome any medical service that might not be necessary. Insurance companies shield themselves against ruin by setting cover limits for every beneficiary.

FFS raises costs, discourages the efficiencies of integrated care, and a variety of reform efforts have been attempted, recommended, or initiated to reduce its influence (such as moving towards bundled payments and capitation).

Medicare Parts A (hospital insurance) and B (optional insurance that covers physician, outpatient hospital, home health, laboratory tests, durable medical equipment, designated therapy, outpatient prescription drugs, and other services not covered by Part A) are FFS programs. Medicare processes over one billion FFS claims per year.

As part of the ongoing drive to cut healthcare costs, this model is gradually being phased out by payers and healthcare organizations in favor of value-based payment models, such as pay-for-performance programs and accountable care organizations that are intended to cap costs and spread financial risk among providers, while encouraging coordination of care, disease prevention and better management of chronic conditions. This is seen as a threat to the survival of clinical labs, which expect to see far fewer tests ordered by healthcare providers.

The Clinical Laboratory Management Association is working to help labs navigate these changes. “As fee-for-service reimbursement gives way to bundled reimbursement and per-member-per-month payment, labs will only be successful if they add value to physicians by helping them diagnose disease earlier and more accurately,” says CLMA President Paul Epner.

CLMA has named this program “Increasing Clinical Effectiveness,” or ICE. THE DARK REPORT is one of CLMA’s partners in this effort.

“Our hope is that ICE is a catalyst that helps lab administrators, pathologists, and medical laboratory scientists broaden the focus of their laboratory beyond operational efficiency to include measurable impact on positive patient outcomes,” says Epner.

TOP 10 LAB STORIES OF 2017

1. CMS Sticks by Decision to Deeply Cut Medicare Part B Lab Test Fees SHORT OF A MIRACLE, the clinical laboratory industry is less than three weeks from the single most financially-disruptive event of the past 30 years. On Jan. 1, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service…

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Big Mergers Dominate Healthcare Headlines

CEO SUMMARY: Since Dec. 3, four unexpected megamergers became national news. Pharmacy chain CVS Health acquired Aetna. Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care will merge. UnitedHealth Group purchased the 2,000 physicians of DaVita Medical Group. Dignity Health and Catholic Health Init…

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Value-based healthcare launches new conflicting interests for hospital labs, independents

This is an excerpt from a 2,400-word article in the Nov. 20, 2017 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: Her…

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Paths of Hospital Labs, Independent Labs Diverge

CEO SUMMARY: With each passing year, the primary role of hospital and health system labs evolves in a different direction than that of independent lab companies. This trend is a response to the creation of integrated delivery networks paid on value and how they are scored on their ability…

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Is the Worm Turning in Favor of Hospital Labs?

SINCE THE MID-1990S, HOSPITAL OUTREACH LABORATORY PROGRAMS have lost market share steadily to the nation’s biggest public lab companies. In these two decades, public lab companies traded deeply-discounted lab test prices to health insurers in exchange for exclusive network provider status. Then, a…

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XIFIN CEO WHITE ANALYZES MEDICARE 2018 FEE CUTS

CEO SUMMARY: If the draft lab rates that CMS published Sept. 22 for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule for 2018 go into effect Jan. 1 as proposed, the…

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Mass Spec Tests Struggle To Gain Insurers’ Attention

CEO SUMMARY: Since 2014, a toxicology lab at the University of Colorado has used mass spectrometry to offer low-cost, accurate multi-analyte test panels that can detect hundreds of therapeutic drugs and drugs of abuse. However, CU Toxicology’s chief medical officer says health insurers …

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Digital Pathology Can Be Transformative for Labs

CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, pathologists are at a crossroads. Now that the FDA has cleared a digital pathology and whole slide imaging (WSI) system for use in primary diagnosis, should they adopt this technology sooner or wait until later? One pathologist who has worked with WSI for m…

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June 5, 2017 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

Have you ever wondered how many consumers have ordered genetic tests from 23andMe? According to the MIT Technology Review, more than 2 million consumers have ordered genetic tests from the Silicon Valley company. Moreover, 85% of these consumers have consented to have their data use…

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Message to Labs: Improve Outcomes, Get Paid More Money!

CEO SUMMARY: By now, there is widespread recognition among pathologists and clinical lab managers that the era of fee-for-service reimbursement is giving way to new forms of payment that reward value. First-mover lab leaders are in the earliest stages of developing enhanced lab testing se…

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