By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVII No. 1 – January 6, 2020 issue
On Dec. 19, Congress passed a year-end spending bill that included the Laboratory Access for Beneficiaries (LAB) Act. The bill went to the President for his signature. The bill mandates that the federal Centers or Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) delay by one year having labs report their private payer lab test data. This means no
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
It may be timely to ask a provocative question that touches everyone in the profession of laboratory medicine. Is there a future for community laboratories and hospital lab outreach programs in the United States, given the different forces acting upon the clinical laboratory industry today?
In this issue, our editorial team describes the multiple disruptive consequences
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 6 – April 16, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Several developments have moved the case forward since December when the American Clinical Laboratory Association filed suit in federal court against the Department of Health and Human Services. Inrecent weeks, ACLA filed for summary judgment; HHS responded with its own request for summary judgment; and most recently ACLA filed its rebuttal to the
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV, No. 1 – January 2, 2018 issue
WE ARE NOW IN THE NEW YEAR and the 2018 Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) is a reality. The dramatic price cuts that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has enacted is the single most disruptive financial event the clinical laboratory industry has faced in the past two decades.
As we have reported,
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 5 – April 3, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Last Thursday, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it was extending the deadline for certain labs to report their private payer lab test prices by an additional 60 days, until May 30. Statements by CMS officials indicate that either or both the number of labs that reported and the volume
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIII No. 15 - November 7, 2016 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Just eight weeks remain before certain clinical laboratories must begin submitting private payer lab test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A new report by the Office of the Inspector General makes it possible to estimate how CMS may implement fee cuts in 2018. THE DARK REPORT’s calculations show that a 10%
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXI NO. 2 – February 3, 2014 issue
CEO SUMMARY: On January 1, the new Medicare rule for requiring bundled or packaged reimbursement for certain services covered by the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) became effective. Just four days earlier (on December 27), Medicare officials issued instructions on how hospitals and laboratories should bill for these services. The new rules trigger serious
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XX No. 15 - November 11, 2013 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Professional investors are smart with their money. Thus, it is no surprise that clinical lab and pathology companies owned by private equity firms are the first to be sold or closed. These investors are acting in response to the cumulative negative financial impact of recent cuts to lab test prices. Even more worrisome
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XVIII No. 11 August 15, 2011 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Congressional cost-cutters are putting the 20% patient co-pay/coinsurance requirement for lab testing back on the table. The added complication this year is that the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is mandated to produce its own list of cuts to the Medicare program. This is in addition to the normal budget cycle
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
