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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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 …
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…
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…
CEO Describes Characteristics Of the Clinical Lab 2.0 Model
CEO SUMMARY: Moving away from volume-based care will not be easy for clinical labs. After all, high volume sustains labs. But labs seeking to transition away from fee-for-service to value-based care must have a seat at the table where decisions are made, said a lab CEO who is part of Proj…
More Hospitals Consider Options for Their Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Is it a new sign of the times? After decades of reluctance to sell their lab outreach businesses or enter into inpatient lab management agreements with commercial lab companies, a surprising number of hospitals and health systems are taking that step. Since the first of the y…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXI, No. 5 – April 8, 2024
The fragmentation of consumer markets is reflected in clinical lab services, and The Dark Report examines this trend and how it will impact labs in the coming years. Also, The Dark Report notes that the FDA has issued a controversial memo to reclassify many high-risk IVD assays.
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