TAG:
pathology groups
Health Insurers See Big Increase in Lab Utilization
CEO SUMMARY: In a recent public workshop, managed care executives revealed that the annual cost of outpatient laboratory testing is increasing at twice the rate of all other medical services. One big driver in the increased spending on lab testing is increased utilization…
Labs Should Prepare for Larger Patient Deductibles
CEO SUMMARY: Employers are taking active steps to control the year-over-year increases in the cost of health benefits. One strategy gaining favor is to move employees away from traditional health plans and enroll them in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). This is a trend with huge fina…
Standard Bar Code Labels Can Reduce Lab Errors
CEO SUMMARY: Standardization of bar code labels is a concept whose time has come. After implementing CLSI standard AUTO12-A, first-mover clinical labs report fewer specimen identification errors, a reduction of costs associated with specimen handling errors, and a boost in lab productivit…
Executive War College Sessions Center Upon Three Trends
CEO SUMMARY: There was an interesting blend of anxiety and optimism as a record crowd gathered in New Orleans last week for the 18th annual Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management. The anxiety was rooted in the shrinking prices paid by payers for lab testing services….
Experts Say Labs May Start to Receive MDx Payments
CEO SUMMARY: In the fourth month of the current year, there is plenty of confusion and uncertainty over how the Medicare program will establish prices for the new molecular CPT codes and when both government and private payers will begin to regularly reimburse laboratorie…
Payers Bolix MDx Codes, Labs Unpaid for Months
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories complain that implementation of a new payment system for molecular tests has been a disaster since January 1. Most contractors for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have not paid labs for molecular tests billed thi…
Reimbursement System Fails Labs and Patients
There is confusion and disruption in the molecular testing sector of the clinical lab testing industry. That’s because both government and private payers were not ready to process and reimburse for the 100+ new molecular CPT test codes on January 1, 2013. That is the date when the Medicare program…
Anticipating Washington’s Next Blows to Lab Testing
CEO SUMMARY: With the advent of 2013, almost every lab was responding to some type of price cut. Clinical labs are dealing with the sequential, multi-year cuts to the Medicare Part B Lab Test Price Schedule. Anatomic pathology labs are still adjusting to the expiration of the TC Grandfath…
Road Map to Most Pressing Trends In Healthcare
YOU SHOULD FIND THIS ISSUE OF THE DARK REPORT TO BE A USEFUL ROAD MAP to several of the major trends now confronting clinical labs and pathology groups across the United States. One trend involves payer efforts to control the cost of lab tests. A second trend centers upon accountable…
Lawyers Share Insights about ACO Contracting
CEO SUMMARY: Most pathologists have yet to be involved in any substantial contractual negotiations that would allow them to assume a significant role in accountable care organizations (ACOs). Instead, hospitals and health systems are putting the building blocks in place by acquiring physi…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 7 – May 12, 2025
Economic, Tech changes drive lab concerns, The Dark Report provides insights from the Executive War College speakers about how clinical labs can use business strategies and tactics to handle the new tariffs, future regulations, and artificial intelligence (AI). Also, this issue provides guidance on how labs and pathologists should prepare for payer audits.
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