What Labs Can Expect from PAMA in 2019

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXVI No. 7 – May 20, 2019 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Attendees at the Executive War College learned that CMS has taken steps to expand the number of hospital labs required to report their private payer lab test price data under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, but the unbundling of certain test panels could be problematic…

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Michigan’s Ascension labs work together to align with a fully integrated health system

By Mary Van Doren | From the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Two trends are driving a movement to standardize laboratory operations across large regions: the integration of clinical care and the need for hospitals and health networks to continuously improve patient outcomes. THE DARK REPORT outlines an ambitious program in Michigan, wh…

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Biggest Lab Firms Diverge on Hospital Lab Strategies

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 13 – September 10, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Almost half of the nation’s hospitals and health systems are rethinking how to use their clinical labs to support clinical and financial strategies. Options range from outright sale of their lab outreach businesses to lab management agreements or joint ventures with one of …

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Is the Joint Venture Hospital Lab an Emerging Trend?

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: THE DARK REPORT has uncovered a previously unnoticed trend that turns common wisdom on Wall Street upside down: Hospitals and health systems may be taking back control of their their …

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Do Hospitals Want to Sell or Outsource Their Labs?

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXV No. 12 – August 20, 2018 Issue

This is an excerpt from a 883-word article in the August 20, 2018 issue of THE DARK REPORT. The complete article and two related articles are available to all readers, with a three-article cap. CEO SUMMARY: Common wisdom on Wall Street is that many hospi…

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ACLA Sues HHS, Claims Flaws In How CMS Set 2018 Rates

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 4 – March 5, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: When the American Clinical Laboratory Association filed its lawsuit Dec. 11 against the Secretary of Health and Human Services, one of its main claims is that HHS collected payment data on the clinical laboratory testing business in a manner that was deeply flawed. HHS then u…

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Lab Executives Declare Concerns about Fee Cuts

By Joseph Burns | From the Volume XXV No. 1 – January 2, 2018 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Members of Joint Venture Hospital Laboratories in Michigan anticipate that the 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule rates being implemented under PAMA will lower payment from Medicare to less than the cost of running tests, especially for rural and critical access hospitals….

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Paths of Hospital Labs, Independent Labs Diverge

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 16 – November 20, 2017 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: With each passing year, the primary role of hospital and health system labs evolves in a different direction than that of independent lab companies. This trend is a response to the creation of integrated delivery networks paid on value and how they are scored on their ability…

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Is the Worm Turning in Favor of Hospital Labs?

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXIV No. 16 – November 20, 2017 Issue

SINCE THE MID-1990S, HOSPITAL OUTREACH LABORATORY PROGRAMS have lost market share steadily to the nation’s biggest public lab companies. In these two decades, public lab companies traded deeply-discounted lab test prices to health insurers in exchange for exclusive network provider status. Then, a…

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For Top 20 Tests, CMS to Cut Payment by 28% in 2018-2020

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXIV No. 14 – October 9, 2017 Issue

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…

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