LIS-EHR Fees Increasing, Say Hospital Lab Execs

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Hospital and health system lab managers say some vendors of electronic health record systems for independent physicians are aggressively raising the fees they charge labs. Labs serving outreach physicians now pay more in two ways, they say. First, they pay the price the vendo…

Read More

---

LabCorp to Acquire Iowa’s Metropolitan Medical Lab

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Without making an announcement, LabCorp said it would acquire the Metropolitan Medical Laboratory, a privately-held laboratory founded in 1914 in Davenport, Iowa. The local newspaper reported that some 136 employees from Metro Medical’s laboratory operations in Moline, Ill….

Read More

---

Lower Prices, More Data in UHC’s New Lab Network?

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 towar…

Read More

---

UHC Reportedly Cutting Ties with Regional Labs

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 developm…

Read More

---

Project Santa Fe Labs Deliver Value with Tests

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 …

Read More

---

Sonic Sees a Future in Lab JVs with Hospitals

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 ex…

Read More

---

Fla. Lab Sells to Labcorp, But Keeps Nursing Homes

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…

Read More

---

XIFIN CEO White Analyzes Medicare 2018 Fee Cuts

By R. Lewis Dark | 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 t…

Read More

---

ARUP Laboratories Earns CAP’s ISO 15189 Accreditation

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 commitmen…

Read More

---

Sonic, Western Connecticut Health Network Announce New Laboratory Joint Venture

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 …

Read More

---