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Medicare Part B
Medicare Part B medical insurance helps pay for some services and products not covered by Part A (hospital insurance) for Americans aged 65 and older who have worked and paid into the system. It also provides health insurance to younger people with disabilities.
Part B coverage begins once a patient meets his or her deductible ($147 in 2013), then typically Medicare covers 80% of approved services, while the remaining 20% is paid by the patient, either directly or indirectly by private Medigap insurance.
For clinical labs and pathology groups, Part B covers laboratory and diagnostic tests. Laboratory tests include certain blood tests, urinalysis, tests on tissue specimens, and some screening tests. They must be provided by a laboratory that meets Medicare requirements.
Complex rules are used to manage the benefit, and advisories are periodically issued which describe coverage criteria. On the national level these advisories are issued by CMS, and are known as National Coverage Determinations (NCD). Local Coverage Determinations (LCD) apply within the multi-state area managed by a specific regional Medicare Part B contractor, and Local Medical Review Policies (LMRP) were superseded by LCDs in 2003.
Medicare Part B payments make up about 15% of the revenue of the two biggest national lab companies. By contrast, it is common for community labs to have between 30% and 65% of their revenue come from Medicare Part B payments.
Part B coverage can also be provided by private insurers through Medicare Advantage Plans. Enrollment in private Medicare Advantage plans has more than doubled since 2006, according to the New York Times. As these plans gain popularity, clinical labs and pathology groups continue to find themselves without access to patients they once served. Medicare beneficiaries now enrolled in Advantage plans comprise nearly one-third of all Medicare beneficiaries.
Generally speaking, growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment favors the national labs, with private insurers providing them exclusive network contracts. This means less market access to these patients by community labs.
Labs Serving Nursing Homes, Rural Areas to Suffer Most
CLINICAL LABORATORIES WITH A HIGH percentage of Medicare Part B lab test reimbursement are expected to suffer the most under the Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) cuts that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed Sept. 22. With the proposed rates schedul…
Lab Associations Comment on CMS Actions, Lab Fees
FOR THE LAB INDUSTRY, THE FEE CUTS proposed in the 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule would be even more aggressive than what the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had earlier predicted for Medicare Part B. In the days following the Sept. 22 publication of the pr…
Can Fee Cuts Be Delayed? Courts Are One Option
CEO SUMMARY: Some lab companies may be prepared to challenge in court the methodology CMS used in setting the requirements of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 to conduct a study of private payer market prices for lab tests and use that data to propose new prices for the Part …
For Top 20 Tests, CMS to Cut Payment by 28% in 2018-2020
ON SEPT. 22, MEDICARE OFFICIALS RELEASED THE DRAFT PRICES for the 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. The bad news for the lab industry is that the fee cuts are deeper than the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had predicted earlier. The price cuts to clinical la…
AMA, AHA Join Labs to Request Delay, Fix
CEO SUMMARY: In what may be a first for the clinical lab industry, the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association joined with 20 other healthcare associations to ask CMS Administrator Seema Verma to address the problems with the CMS proposal involving Medicare Part B f…
Attention All Lab Professionals: It’s Time to Act!
AT THIS MOMENT, THE ENTIRE CLINICAL LABORATORY INDUSTRY STANDS on the precipice of the most financially disruptive development in the past three decades. On Jan. 1, the federal Centers for M…
NYU Langone and Sonic Healthcare Create Laboratory Outreach Joint Venture
CEO SUMMARY: NYU Langone Health recognized the clinical and financial advantages of providing competitive lab outreach testing services to its employed physicians. The laboratory joint venture with Sonic Healthcare USA will allow NYU Langone to increase use of its hospital labs and will f…
LabCorp, Quest Talk about Medicare Lab Price Cuts
CEO SUMMARY: In an effort to forestall CMS’ efforts to implement the PAMA final rule on market price reporting, Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics are meeting with members of Congress, officials in the administration, and the new leadership of CMS. During recent con…
2014’s PAMA Fix Comes Back to Haunt Big Labs
AS YOU READ THE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFINGS IN THIS ISSUE about lab industry efforts to convince Congress, the administration, and the new leaders of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to delay implementation of the PAMA final rule on market price reporting, keep in mind thatâ…
Time’s running out to stop Medicare lab fee schedule cuts
This is an excerpt from an article in the August 7, 2017 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article is available for a limited time to all readers, and available at all times to paid members of the Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: Only a few mo…
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