By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 2 – February 4, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: It is ironic that, after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enacted the deepest price cuts to the Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule in more than 50 years, a U.S. Senator now asks CMS why it will pay billions more for lab testing. The question from Iowa Senator Chuck
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 2 – February 4, 2019 issue
By any measure, it is tougher today for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups to generate the revenue needed to deliver state-of-the-art diagnostic testing services while remaining financially viable. Four recent trends prove the point.
First, every year, the Medicare program and private health insurers are cutting the prices they pay for medical laboratory tests.
Second, most
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
CEO SUMMARY: In Toledo, Ohio, ProMedica Laboratories uses extensive metrics to analyze almost all processes in the lab. Under a process improvement program in place for more than five years, the lab has implemented daily management to help streamline day-to-day operations. Concurrently, a newly-formed cross-functional test utilization team adopted recommendations from the Choosing Wisely campaign
By Robert Michel, 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, when closed panel HMOs were the disruptive force that generated deep cuts in lab test prices. However, unlike HMOs of that era, the CMS scheme to collect private payer lab test prices and use that
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
It may be timely to ask a provocative question that touches everyone in the profession of laboratory medicine. Is there a future for community laboratories and hospital lab outreach programs in the United States, given the different forces acting upon the clinical laboratory industry today?
In this issue, our editorial team describes the multiple disruptive consequences
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 18 – December 24, 2018 issue
Each time a new year approaches, it is natural to look ahead and think about what the next 12 months will bring. My bet is that certain sectors of the clinical laboratory industry are soon to experience substantial disruption.
This disruption will come in two forms. First, federal regulators will be tougher on labs that violate
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
IN RECENT DAYS, RUMORS HAVE SURFACED that UnitedHealthcare has begun to terminate the contracts it holds with a number of regional and non-national clinical laboratories.
This news surfaced just as The Dark Report went to press. Given its importance to the clinical laboratory industry, we wanted to alert lab executives and pathologists to this development as
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Since 2011, the University of Florida Health System has used pharmacogenetic test (PGx) results to guide physicians when they prescribe certain drugs. This initiative has improved patient outcomes, reduced the overall cost per episode of care, and gained partial reimbursement from health insurers for PGx test claims. As this testing becomes more widespread, clinical
By R. Lewis Dark, from the Volume XXV No. 17 – December 3, 2018 issue
Traditionally, the new year is a time of optimism. People make resolutions such as exercising more and losing weight. Companies get to start the year with a fresh budget and the new opportunity to achieve their goals.
Unfortunately, events of the last 90 days of this year are not auspicious for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology
