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Medicare
November 25 2019 intelligence late breaking lab news
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 cut…
Details Emerge in KU Hospital Misdiagnosis by Pathology Chair
By Joseph Burns
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 statio…
Labs May Be Excluded from Revised Stark, AKS Rules
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 pro…
Labs May Be Excluded from Revised Stark Law, AKS Rules
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 la…
In LabCorp Case, Judge Upholds Some Claim
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 …
Lawsuits Allege LabCorp, Quest Overcharged Uninsured Patients
By Joseph Burns
CEO SUMMARY: Court documents filed in U.S. District courts in New Jersey and North Carolina provide details about how each of the two lab companies set lab test prices differently—as much as 10 times higher—for cash-paying patients than for patients who have Medicare, Medicaid, or com…
Lab Benefit Managers Want to Help Health Plans
By Joseph Burns
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory benefit management companies that offer a range of services to health insurers are gaining influence over clinical lab testing in important ways. On behalf of health insurers, LBMs will select labs for a payer’s network, then manage that network. They also manage…
ICD-10 Gives Payers More Data About Lab Claims
By Joseph Burns
CEO SUMMARY: Evidence shows that adoption of ICD-10 diagnosis codes in 2015 made it possible for health insurers to track clinical laboratory testing more closely, ask more questions about those tests, and deny coverage. Increased detail about each patient’s condition has led to increas…
Prediction of ICD-10 as Negative for Labs Comes True
By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXVI No. 16 – November 25, 2019 Issue
IMPLEMENTATION OF ICD-10 DIAGNOSIS CODES in the United States happened on Oct. 1, 2015. At that time, a national laboratory association predicted that use of ICD-10 codes would cause Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to pay labs less often and with lower reimbursement. The Dark Report ag…
ICD-10 Codes Give Payers More Data About Lab Claims
This is an excerpt of a 1,484-word article in the Nov. 25, 2019 issue of THE DARK REPORT (TDR). The full article is available to members of The Dark Intelligence Group. CEO SUMMARY: It’s an unreported trend tracked only by THE DARK REPORT, but which is essential reading for clinical …
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Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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