TAG:
lab testing services
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…
New Blue Card Policies Cause Labs to Go Unpaid
CEO SUMMARY: Widespread frustration continues within the independent clinical laboratory community about the new Blue Card rules that took effect in October 2012. That was when the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association revised its Blue Card program so that labs must bill the local plan in th…
Quality Assurance Regs to Tighten for UK Labs
CEO SUMMARY: In the United Kingdom, a window of opportunity has opened for improving the quality assurance activities of pathology and histopathology laboratories. Last week, at the Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine conference, the newly-published “Pathology Quality Assurance Review” w…
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…
2013’s Top Ten Lab Stories Point to Tougher Times
CEO SUMMARY: For 2013, the big story was money—or, more accurately, less money for providers. This was not limited to clinical labs and pathology groups, but was equally true of hospitals and physicians. In THE DARK REPORT’S annual lookback at the year’s 10…
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…
Charting Your Lab’s Course for 2014
WITHOUT QUESTION, CLINICAL LABS AND PATHOLOGY GROUPS will be confronted with tough challenges during 2014. Across the nation, lab executives and pathologists tell us that it is no longer “business as usual.” What I find most interesting about the feedback pouring into our offices is that the Aff…
Medicare Overstepped With Proposed Rules
FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW, officials at the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have signaled their unhappiness with the status quo in how coverage guidelines and prices must be established for clinical laboratory testing and anatomic pathology services. These pag…
Medicare Price Cuts Drive Labs to Sell or File BK
CEO SUMMARY: Professional investors are smart with their money. Thus, it is no surprise that clinical lab and pathology companies owned by private equity firms are the first to be sold or closed. These investors are acting in response to the cumulative negative financial impact of recent …
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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