For Labs, a Little Angel and Devil Sit Behind Z-Codes

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXX, No. 8 – May 30, 2023 Issue

Much lies underneath the surface of UnitedHealthcare’s (UHC) new policy mandating Z-code use for molecular tests covered under its commercial health plans. It’s a developme…

Read More

---

UHC’s Z-Code Requirement to Commence on Aug. 1

By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXX, No. 8 – May 30, 2023 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In what may be an alarming development for certain clinical laboratories, as of Aug. 1, UnitedHealthcare will require Z-codes for molecular test claims filed under its co…

Read More

---

February 13, 2023, Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXX No. 3 – February 13, 2023 Issue

Laboratory leaders should prepare now for the end of the federal public health emergency (PHE) for SARS-CoV-2. The White House announced the PHE would cease on May 11. One big change is that patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance may pay higher costs for COVID-19 t…

Read More

---

January 23, 2023, Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXX No. 2 – January 23, 2023 Issue

New data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) offers further evidence of a decreasing talent pool of pathologists in the United States. Active physicians in anatomic and clinical pathology dropped from 13,201 in 2016 to 12,180 in 2021—a 7.7% decrease, according to the AAM…

Read More

---

Eight Macro Trends for Clinical Labs in 2023

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXX, No. 1 – January 3, 2023 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory administrators and pathologists will want to carefully study eight important trends that will guide their business strategies in 2023. Many of these macro trends center on financial and operational difficulties and ways to steer around these obstacles. Anothe…

Read More

---

January 3, 2023, Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Scott Wallask | From the Volume XXX, No. 1 – January 3, 2023 Issue

At the moment, it appears that the controversial Verifying Accurate Leading-edge IVCT Development (VALID) Act will have a hard time passing in Congress. The bill, which is intended to shift regulation of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) to the federal Food and Drug Administration…

Read More

---

Two Positive Messages to Focus on at Year’s End

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIX, No. 17 – December 12, 2022 Issue

Clinical laboratory managers and anatomic pathologists are winding down another tumultuous year for the healthcare industry. It was a year marked by unexpected twists and turns.  It was also a year marked by two positive developments for labs. First, the…

Read More

---

Lab Allegedly Billed Medicare for Tests It Did Not Perform

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIX, No. 16 – November 21, 2022 Issue

Following up on a Sept. 19 intelligence briefing, an attorney told The Dark Report that a federal case alleging genetic test fraud showed hallmarks of pass-through billing.  As such, it raises questions about whether reference l…

Read More

---

Labs Face Powerful and Unwelcome Forces

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIX, No. 11 – August 8, 2022 Issue

OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN WIDESPREAD RECOGNITION THAT HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED STATES is on an unsustainable path. The obvious argument was that year-over-year increases in healthcare costs would eventually overcome the ability of employers (private health plans) and the government (Medi…

Read More

---

1999’s ‘To Err Is Human’ Still an Opportunity for Labs

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIX, Number 9 – June 27, 2022 Issue

NOT ONLY DID THE 1999 PUBLICATION OF ‘TO ERR IS HUMAN” trigger a wave of national news coverage about patient harm in hospitals, it also launched this nation’s healthcare system on a multi-decade journey to boost the quality of care, reduce medical errors, and increase the transparency of both pati…

Read More

---