Tag: Medicare

April 8, 2019 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue

BeaconLBS announced a collaboration with MagnaCare of Garden City, N.Y., last month. The press release issued by the two companies stated that MagnaCare would use the “BeaconLBS Physician Decision Support (PDS) solution with its network of physician and laboratory providers.” MagnaCare describes itself as a company serving “Taft-Hartley funds, TPAs, carriers, and worker’s compensation and no-fault

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Reacting to PAMA Cuts, Lab Works with Payers

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Before Medicare’s lab test price cuts went into effect last year, Health Network Laboratories began discussions with private health insurers and nursing home clients about the possibility of renegotiating their contracts. In these discussions, HNL promoted the value it delivers to health insurers in terms of fast turnaround times, lab-test utilization management, and

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AP Groups Can Protect Revenue, Pathologist Compensation

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Many anatomic pathology groups are watching their revenue decline and margins shrink on the same or greater case volume. These trends make it imperative to have a deeper understanding of the operational and financial variables that contribute to stability in the group’s finances and pathologist compensation. One expert on the financial complexity of anatomic

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Nine Lab Groups Say New NCCI Policy Is Inconsistent

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: By its name alone, the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) Policy Manual implies that it will be accurate and consistent with other coding initiatives. But nine groups representing various clinical laboratories say NCCI guidelines that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued in December and implemented on Jan. 1 are inconsistent

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What Have We Done for You Lately?

By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019 issue

Our Editor-In-Chief just finished the daunting task of confirming 125 speakers for more than 80 sessions for our 24th annual Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management. It is our biggest conference ever! These facts are significant to you for an important reason.

The planning phase for an Executive War College requires requires hundreds of

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March 18, 2019 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue

Because of a $25 million grant from philanthropist Denny Sanford, the Veterans Administration and Sanford Health will provide free genetic testing to 250,000 veterans by 2022. These will be pharmacogenomic (PGx) tests designed to help VA physicians prescribe medication and dosages customized to the unique characteristics of individual patients. This innovative program was announced on Mar.

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Best Ways to Gather, Access, Report PAMA Lab Test Price Data to CMS

By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue

This is an excerpt from a 2,900-word article in the March 18, 2019 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group.

CEO SUMMARY: This is the first lab industry intelligence briefing which presents the lessons learned by a hospital system lab when it gathered, analyzed, and reported

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Best Ways to Gather, Access, Report PAMA Price Data to CMS

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: All clinical labs required to report their private payer lab test price data are now in the midst of collecting that data. One big change in PAMA reporting is that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now defines most hospital and health system labs as “applicable labs”and requires them to report

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LIS-EHR Fees Increasing, Say Hospital Lab Execs

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: Hospital and health system lab managers say some vendors of electronic health record systems for independent physicians are aggressively raising the fees they charge labs. Labs serving outreach physicians now pay more in two ways, they say. First, they pay the price the vendor charges to implement an LIS-to-EHR interface. Second, they pay

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COLA: GAO Should Address PAMA’s Effect on Patients

By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue

CEO SUMMARY: In a recent statement, COLA, an organization that accredits clinical labs, expressed strong concern about how a report from the Government Accountability Office did not address how the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA) affects patients’ access to testing, especially in rural areas. COLA said its surveys of providers across the

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Volume XXVI No. 5 – April 8, 2019

IT'S A FIRST FOR THE CLINICAL LAB INDUSTRY - and American industry as a whole. This issue exclusively reveals that after two years of testing, a lab has achieved the first revenue-generating flight of an unmanned drone in the U.S. Now, the lab's transport of supplies and specimens can safely bypass traffic regularly. Remarkably, the project has involved the cooperation of UPS and both the FAA and state regulators. Also, TDR reports that another government initiative, the National Correct Coding Initiative, has apparently gone awry. Labs could be harmed if they submit claims incorrectly based on the NCCI.

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Tag: Medicare

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