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
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 4 – March 18, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Without making an announcement, LabCorp said it would acquire the Metropolitan Medical Laboratory, a privately-held laboratory founded in 1914 in Davenport, Iowa. The local newspaper reported that some 136 employees from Metro Medical’s laboratory operations in Moline, Ill., may lose their jobs. Last month, LabCorp said Medicare and other cuts in payment to
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXVI No. 3 – February 25, 2019 issue
IN AN UPDATE TO A CASE REPORTED LAST YEAR, the investigation at the Arkansas Veterans Heath Care System of the Ozarks and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville, Ark., now shows that as many as 12 veterans died as a result of this one pathologist’s errors, according to a report by Arkansas KFSM 5
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 3 – February 25, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: When Ascension Wisconsin wanted one pathology group to serve its needs statewide, North Shore Pathologists responded to the request for proposal by focusing on how pathologists can improve patient care through a patient-centered model. Other pathology groups responded with proposals that emphasized the financial aspects of the relationship. Focusing on patient care won
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 3 – February 25, 2019 issue
BIGGER PATHOLOGY GROUPS AND METROWIDE OR STATEWIDE COVERAGE will be major characteristics in the anatomic pathology profession as healthcare continues to transform in new ways. That is why the reasons for the substantial growth in case volume and revenue at North Shore Pathologists (NSP) in Milwaukee should be studied by pathology groups everywhere.
It was a practice
This is an excerpt from a 1,565-word article in the Feb.4 issue of THE DARK REPORT.
The full article is available to paid members of The Dark Intelligence Group.
CEO SUMMARY: With most hospitals now included as “applicable laboratories” in the PAMA Medicare price reporting guidelines and required to report their private payer lab test price data, this incisive
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 2 – February 4, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Will clinical labs heed the lessons learned from the first PAMA private payer market price reporting cycle that CMS conducted in 2017? One major difference is that the definition of applicable laboratories now includes most hospital labs. This creates the opportunity for a larger number of clinical labs to submit their price data
By Mary Van Doren, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: This will be one of the most challenging years facing the clinical lab industry since the early 1990s. The CMS scheme to collect private payer lab test prices and use that data to set Medicare clinical laboratory test prices is proving to be an indiscriminate tool that is poised to undermine the financial integrity of many labs,
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
LAST MONTH the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) filed an appeal in its case against the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In its court filing, the ACLA said that a federal district court judge erred in her ruling against the lab association.
The district court misinterpreted the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
NEW CLINICAL LABORATORY CONTRACTING INITIATIVES are planned at UnitedHealthcare (UHC), including the launch of a preferred laboratory network this summer.
The nation’s largest health insurer with 49 million beneficiaries, UHC announced in May that it would add Quest Diagnostics as an in-network lab provider effective Jan. 1, and retain Laboratory Corporation of America as a network
