By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 14 – October 1, 2018 issue
HOW OFTEN IS A DEFUNCT LAB COMPANY IN THE NEWS? That was the odd development last week when it was announced that a U.S. District Court had entered a $1.4 million civil judgement against Calloway Laboratories, Inc., a toxicology lab company formerly based in Woburn, Mass., for business practices during the period May 2014 through
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIII No. 9 – July 5, 2016 issue
CEO SUMMARY: CMS issued its final rule for implementing the laboratory payment reform included in the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) on June 17. All labs will see significant reductions to the Medicare Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule that becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2018. That same section of PAMA requires
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXII NO. 1 - January 5, 2015 issue
CEO SUMMARY: While working in the office of a physician who was a client of Health Diagnostic Laboratory, a phlebotomist says he was instructed to write the same 10 diagnoses on every test requisition a doctor sent to HDL, a lab company in Richmond, Virginia. HDL is under federal investigation, according to published reports. The same 10 diagnoses were recorded for every patient even though some of these tests were appropriate only for women, the source said.
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXI NO. 8 – June 9, 2014 issue
CEO SUMMARY: West Virginia is the second state in recent years to settle claims of Medicare and Medicaid fraud filed against Calloway Laboratories of Woburn, Massachusetts. Last month, the pain management lab company agreed to pay $4.675 million to resolve that case, while not admitting liability. During the period that Calloway was alleged to have
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XX No. 10 - July 29, 2013 issue
CEO SUMMARY: As of July 24, four New Jersey doctors had pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges. Each of the doctors accepted bribes in exchange for referring patient lab testing to Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services (BLS) of Parsippany, New Jersey. This landmark criminal prosecution includes criminal charges associated with sham lease and service agreements between labs
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIX No. 18 - December 31, 2012 issue
CEO SUMMARY: It’s been a year with more lows than highs, when viewed through the lens of THE DARK REPORT’S “Top Ten Lab Stories of 2012.” The end of the TC grandfather clause, new policies for prostate biopsy billing, and a dramatic 52% cut to 88305- TC fees were widely reported. But there was equally
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XVIII No. 9 - July 05, 2011 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Recent events in California, triggered by a lab whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2005 and unsealed in 2009, provide the latest example of how these lawsuits and related government enforcement actions can cause fundamental changes in the pricing and marketing practices that labs and other providers can use while staying within the laws that
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XVII No. 1 - January 4, 2010 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In presenting this list of macro trends for clinical laboratories, several themes are in play. They range from a continued emphasis on improving lab operations to the need to acquire and deploy sophisticated information technology. During the next few years, the long-predicted retirement of Baby Boomers will kick in. That will aggravate the
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XV No. 3 - March 3, 2008 issue
CEO SUMMARY: In a federal case involving billing improprieties and insurance fraud, a federal judge sentenced Michigan dermatologist Robert W. Stokes, M.D., to 126 months in prison and ordered him to pay $178,100 in fines and assessments, with the amount of restitution yet to be determined. Stokes was tried in federal court last April facing
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XIII No. 17 - December 18, 2006 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Presented here are THE DARK REPORT’S “Ten Biggest Lab Stories of 2006.” Compared to earlier years, 2006 was not transformative for the laboratory industry. But it was an eventful year, particularly influenced by Siemens’ decision to acquire DPC and Bayer Diagnostics, along with the decision by UnitedHealth Group to grant an exclusive national
