TAG:
the laboratory
Two Largest Payers Start Lab Test Pre-Authorization
CEO SUMMARY: Once Anthem and UnitedHealthcare establish their respective genetic test prior-authorization programs, a new era for genetic testing will commence. The 80 million beneficiaries served by these two payers make up half of the individuals who have private health insurance. It is…
Labs Report Problems with Anthem’s Pre-Approval
CEO SUMMARY: Since the July 1 launch of its prior-authorization program for genetic tests, Anthem and its subsidiary, AIM Specialty Health, have authorized few genetic tests, said a national lab. Lab directors say they have been unable to communicate with Anthem/AIM when client physicians…
LabCorp, Quest Talk about Medicare Lab Price Cuts
CEO SUMMARY: In an effort to forestall CMS’ efforts to implement the PAMA final rule on market price reporting, Laboratory Corporation of America and Quest Diagnostics are meeting with members of Congress, officials in the administration, and the new leadership of CMS. During recent con…
Hospital Lab Data Essential For CMS Market Price Study
CEO SUMMARY: In five months, Medicare officials will implement a new Part B clinical laboratory fee schedule based on private payer lab price data submitted by certain medical laboratories required to report that data. At this year’s Executive War College, the CEO of XIFIN, Inc., reported o…
Six Years after Launch, Med Fusion Sold to Quest
CEO SUMMARY: In Dallas, the relatively short-lived lab company known as Med Fusion has a new owner. After seven years, the lab partnership of Baylor Scott and White, US Oncology Network, Texas Oncology, and Pathologists Bio-Medical Laboratories decided to sell their ownership stakes to Qu…
Use of Creatinine to Improve Diagnosis, Treatment of AKI
INNOVATIVE CLINICAL LABS are making significant changes to accommodate the shift from volume to values. In one change, they are collaborating with clinicians to use lab test data to improve patient outcomes. In another, they are collecting the clinical data from these efforts to publish the outcomes…
Mississippi Blue Cross Sues Hospital, Tox Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Last month’s lawsuit filed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi against a small rural hospital in Mississippi and multiple defendant lab companies in Texas is the latest attempt by health insurers to rein the widespread fraud that threatens to overwhelm the pain managem…
New Business Models for Pathology, Clinical Labs
EXPERTS OFTEN PROCLAIM THAT THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM is slow to change and slow to adopt the management approaches, operational innovations, and new technologies that other industries use. One example is adoption of the quality management techniques that W. Edwards Deming and the Japanese develope…
Texas Lawmakers Asked to Stop UHC and BeaconLBS
CEO SUMMARY: In a letter to the Texas Legislature, 20 Texas medical societies say UnitedHealthcare’s BeaconLBS program would be detrimental to patient care. The Texas Medical Association and the Texas Society of Pathologists said they were concerned that the program increases the admini…
Sonic, Western Connecticut Health Network Announce New Laboratory Joint Venture
CEO SUMMARY: To prepare for the transition from fee-for-service to value-based payment, Western Connecticut Health Network, a three-hospital health system, announced a laboratory joint venture with Sonic Healthcare. Benefits will include lower test costs, more competitive prices, and the …
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.