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Laboratory benefit management program
The laboratory benefit management program is a controversial program created by UnitedHealthcare in 2014, which “is designed to help improve quality of care and manage appropriate utilization for outpatient laboratory services,” according to UHC.
The pilot launch was for laboratory services ordered by Florida network providers for fully insured UnitedHealthcare Commercial members in Florida, excluding Neighborhood Health Partnership.
All outpatient laboratory services for members who are part of the Laboratory Benefit Management Program are subject to new requirements including advance notification and new medical policies.
Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions, Inc. (BeaconLBS®), which specializes in laboratory services management, administers the Laboratory Benefit Management Program for UHC.
Under the program, physicians serving UHC’s commercial patients in Florida must notify UHC when ordering any of 80 clinical laboratory tests. Pre-authorization is also required for certain tests.
The program has generated widespread resistance from Florida physicians, who protest that it will cause unnecessary delays for patient treatment, and undue burdens for doctors ordering tests. In addition to problems with lab test pre-notification algorithms within the BeaconLBS system, other problems cited by physicians include the exclusion of all but 13 Florida labs from the BeaconLBS “laboratory of choice network.”
Physicians claimed that this disrupts longstanding clinical relationships between physicians and their preferred labs. It also means that patients who have been served for years by their physicians’ preferred labs must now visit one of the 13 labs in the BeaconLBS network.
Pathologists are particularly concerned that BeaconLBS requires them to get a second review when ordering certain tests and to ensure that subspecialist pathologists who review tests have specific certifications, according to the College of American Pathologists. After CAP asked UHC to reconsider these two requirements, UHC left these requirements in place.
UHC is Florida’s second largest health insurer with approximately a 14% share of the market.
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