Since 1995, Reliable Business Intelligence for Clinical Laboratories, Pathology Groups and Laboratory Diagnostics

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pathology test

March 17, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”

People walking down a street in Weatherford, Connecticut on March 10, found lab test reports for at least 16 patients, according to a news report by a local television news station. This is a breach of protected health information (PHI) under the federal HIPAA statute. Reporters from WSFB contacted o…

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Across the Pond, Lots of Changes in Lab Testing

IN BOTH THE UNITED KINGDOM AND EUROPE, plenty of change is unfolding in clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology testing. Our intrepid Editor-in-Chief, Robert L. Michel, spent last week in England attending our annual Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine conference, now in its eleventh year. …

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Quality Assurance Regs to Tighten for UK Labs

CEO SUMMARY: In the United Kingdom, a window of opportunity has opened for improving the quality assurance activities of pathology and histopathology laboratories. Last week, at the Frontiers in Laboratory Medicine conference, the newly-published “Pathology Quality Assurance Review” w…

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Medicare OPPS Rule Has Pitfalls for Labs

CEO SUMMARY: On January 1, the new Medicare rule for requiring bundled or packaged reimbursement for certain services covered by the hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) became effective. Just four days earlier (on December 27), Medicare officials issued instructions on h…

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Tricare, DOD Not Paying for MoPath Codes, LDTs

CEO SUMMARY: It turns out that labs serving Tricare patients are going unpaid for certain LDTs, molecular, and genetic tests. The issue of nonpayment began in January 2013 when Tricare stopped paying for these tests that were billed under the new molecular CPT codes that replaced the prev…

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Tennessee BCBS Cuts Lab Fees to 52% of Medicare

CEO SUMMARY: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee has notified physicians that, starting January 1, it will reduce what it pays for lab testing to 52% of Medicare fees. Officials with the state medical association have been unable to get definitive answers to questions about what tests wou…

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ACLA, CAP Comment on Final 2014 Medicare Rules

CEO SUMMARY: On November 27, as the nation prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the long-awaited final rules for 2014. Early analysis of the 1,300 pages of rules CMS released indicates that the agency moderated one…

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Medicare Price Cuts Drive Labs to Sell or File BK

CEO SUMMARY: Professional investors are smart with their money. Thus, it is no surprise that clinical lab and pathology companies owned by private equity firms are the first to be sold or closed. These investors are acting in response to the cumulative negative financial impact of recent …

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Most Colorado Labs Now Connected to State’s HIE

CEO SUMMARY: One trend getting little publicity is that of health information exchanges (HIEs). Since its founding in 2009, the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) has grown steadily. Today, most of the state’s independent lab companies and hospital laboratories a…

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Attention Pathologists: Change Is Coming!

IT’S BEEN A BUSY FOUR WEEKS for your editor at THE DARK REPORT. He has traveled to meetings, conducted site visits at a variety of large and small companies serving clinical labs and pathology groups, and even participated in strategic planning sessions for some labs and industry vendors. I asked …

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