By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 2 – February 4, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: It’s been a common strategy among managed care payers to seek the lowest prices for clinical laboratory testing when negotiating contracts with labs. However, lower prices may become less important over time as the health system moves away from fee-for-service payment toward value-based reimbursement. Now evidence is accumulating that at least some large
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 18 – December 24, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: By cutting out smaller, regional labs, UnitedHealthcare appears to want to shift an unknown percentage of its lab test volume to Quest Diagnostics Inc., which it recently restored to its national provider network. Clinical lab directors should be concerned about this development because UHC is the nation’s largest health insurer and because other
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 16 – November 13, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: No bigger threat looms over the financial security of the nation’s clinical laboratories than healthcare’s transition from fee-for-service payment to value-based reimbursement. To navigate that transition successfully, medical labs and pathology groups will need to adopt the Clinical Lab 2.0 model. Member labs of Project Santa Fe are themselves working to develop and
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In every partnership, each member has a unique point of view. Following the announcement of a new laboratory joint venture company involving ProMedica Health System and Sonic Healthcare USA, the Sonic executive who worked with ProMedica’s administrators to develop the JV explained why Sonic is bullish on this hospital laboratory outreach joint venture
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 16 – November 20, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Vista Clinical Diagnostics of Clermont, Fla., is betting big on the nursing home sector just when many labs serving nursing homes are worried about steep Medicare cuts coming Jan. 1. After selling its physician office referral testing, 35 patient service centers, and a mobile testing service to LabCorp, Vista will retain its nursing
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
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, then clinical labs will see a cut of 28% in what they get paid for the top 20 most common tests, according to a recent analysis. The rates
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 5 – April 3, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Being accredited to this internationally recognized standard for quality and competence communicates to clients and prospective clients that one of the nation’s largest clinical labs is committed to the highest standards of quality. Clients already knew about that commitment but now have definitive proof, ARUP said. Also, lab administrators believed that gaining accreditation
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 4 – March 13, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: To prepare for the transition from fee-for-service to value-based payment, Western Connecticut Health Network, a three-hospital health system, announced a laboratory joint venture with Sonic Healthcare. Benefits will include lower test costs, more competitive prices, and the ability to offer same-day turn-around in Western Connecticut. Another benefit is that physicians in towns WCHN
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 1 – January 9, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Among the three chief reasons for the merger of CellNetix and Puget Sound Institute of Pathology, the most compelling was the need to address the challenges in the current reimbursement environment and to prepare for reductions in payment to pathologists expected in the coming years under the Patient Access to Medicare Act. CellNetix
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIII, No. 8 – June 13, 2016 issue
NEWS OF A HOSPITAL INPATIENT LAB MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT between HealthONE of Denver and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated marks the second time in six months that the public lab company has earned an inpatient lab management pact with a multi-hospital health system.
There are two aspects of this development that make it newsworthy for lab administrators and pathologists
