This is an excerpt of a 1,460-word article in the Jan. 6, 2020 issue of THE DARK REPORT (TDR). The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: Here are early insights about a federal compliance reform that has not gotten much attention among clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology managers. CMS
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 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 in court documents alleging that LabCorp overcharged them by two to five and as
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVII No. 1 – January 6, 2020 issue
CEO SUMMARY: When CMS and the OIG issued proposed rules last fall to make it easier for providers to participate in value-based and coordinated care arrangements, they considered excluding clinical labs, pharma companies, and DME firms because of concerns that the proposed rules could promote lab test fraud. Now, labs will have to wait for
By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXVI No. 17 – December 16, 2019 issue
This is an excerpt of a 3,163-word article in the Dec. 16, 2019 issue of THE DARK REPORT (TDR). The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: There was plenty of bad news in 2019 for clinical labs and pathology groups. Yet lurking inside this news are clear opportunities –
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 17 – December 16, 2019 issue
AFTER A PATIENT FILED A LAWSUIT against a pathologist at the University of Kansas Hospital for fraud and negligence in a case stemming from a misdiagnosis of cancer in 2015, details about a settlement in the case were sealed. Now, some details have come out.
Last month, NPR station KCUR in Kansas City reported that the
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 17 – December 16, 2019 issue
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 Medicare, Medicaid, or commercial health plans charged. Allegations include overcharging,
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 17 – December 16, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: There are both surprises and several valuable insights to be harvested from THE DARK REPORT’s “Top 10 Lab Industry Stories for 2019.” Financially, 2019 proved to be a tough year for both clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups in the United States. One reason is because Medicare and private payers continue to use
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 17 – December 16, 2019 issue
Is it a coincidence that a number of uninsured consumers filed separate lawsuits in federal courts against Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics—alleging, in both cases, that they were overcharged for clinical laboratory tests—just months before the federal government published final rules requiring hospitals and other providers to publish their prices?
Last month, the federal Centers
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 16 – November 25, 2019 issue
Medicare lab test price cuts mandated by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) are eroding the finances of urology groups that do in-office clinical laboratory testing. In the November issue of Urology Times, urologist Robert A. Dowling, MD, wrote a news story that identified the cuts in Medicare Part B prices for the lab tests
