In LabCorp Case, Judge Upholds Some Claim

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVII No. 1 – January 6, 2020 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In a federal lawsuit against Laboratory Corporation of America, plaintiffs who were uninsured or underinsured charged the lab company with engaging in “business practices that trick and harass customers into paying excessive prices.” Plaintiffs made this and other claims …

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Lawsuits Allege LabCorp, Quest Overcharged Uninsured Patients

By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Court documents filed in U.S. District courts in New Jersey and North Carolina provide details about how each of the two lab companies set lab test prices differently—as much as 10 times higher—for cash-paying patients than for patients who have Medicare, Medicaid, or com…

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Lawsuits Alleging Overcharges to Proceed in Two Courts in 2020

By Joseph Burns

CEO SUMMARY: Two lawsuits filed in federal courts against Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics may have consequences for the entire lab industry. The plaintiffs are patients who allege that the two defendant lab companies charged them as much as 10 times more than what …

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Fla. Blue Cross Contract May Be Next Battleground

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

CEO SUMMARY: In Florida, the Blue Cross Blue Shield contract is coming up for renewal and the question is whether it will renew as exclusive to one national lab company. But Florida is not the only state where BCBS plans are planning to issue new contracts. Among the Blues plans that may …

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PAMA Price Cuts Reduce Revenue at Two National Labs

By Mary Van Doren | From the Volume XXVI No. 3 – February 25, 2019 Issue

This is an excerpt from a 1,500-word article in the Feb. 25, 2019 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: In their respective earnings reports for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2018, executives at both La…

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PAMA Price Cuts Reduce Revenue at LabCorp, Quest

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 3 – February 25, 2019 Issue

This story was updated from the original on March 27, 2019, and includes corrected information in three places. CEO SUMMARY: In their respective earnings reports for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2018, executives at both Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagno…

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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…

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Why PAMA May Be Poised to Disrupt Lab Industry

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: This will be one of the most challenging years facing the clinical lab industry since the early 1990s, when closed panel HMOs were the disruptive force that generated deep cuts in lab test prices. However, unlike HMOs of that era, the CMS scheme to collect private payer lab t…

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Is There a Future for Hospital Lab Outreach Programs?

By Mary Van Doren | From the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: This will be one of the most challenging years facing the clinical lab industry since the early 1990s. The CMS scheme to collect private payer lab test prices and use that data to set Medicare clinical laboratory test pric…

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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…

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