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 Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXVI No. 1 – January 14, 2019 issue
CEO SUMMARY: With so many market forces working against the economic interests of clinical laboratories, it is essential that all labs develop appropriate strategies designed to sustain the quality of laboratory testing services and the financial integrity of the laboratory organization. In this intelligence briefing, XIFIN, Inc.’s CEO, Lâle White, explains five strategies that are
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXV No. 7 – May 7, 2018 issue
CEO SUMMARY: Innovative clinical labs and pathology groups are absorbing this year’s Medicare Part B price cuts while continuing to pursue opportunities to add value. A common theme from many speakers at last week’s Executive War College in New Orleans is that the lab must get mastery of its LIS and informatics specifically to enable
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 16 – November 20, 2017 issue
MEDICARE OFFICIALS PUBLISHED the final Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule for 2018 last Friday. Some changes clinical labs will welcome. The rates remain deeply flawed, however, and will cause many labs to lay off staff and others to close, experts said Saturday.
How CMS set the rates remains problematic, stated Julie Khani, President of the
By judeb, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: If the draft lab rates that CMS published Sept. 22 for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule for 2018 go into effect Jan. 1 as proposed, then clinical labs will see a cut of 28% in what they get paid for the top 20 most common tests, according to a recent analysis. The rates
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
ALL LABORATORY PROFESSIONALS AND pathologists are encouraged to submit comments to CMS before the Oct. 23, as well as send letters to their elected officials in Congress to urge both to delay and to fix the market price study and revise the proposed Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule for 2018.
Beneficiaries Will Lose Out
Among the most important
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
CLINICAL LABORATORIES WITH A HIGH percentage of Medicare Part B lab test reimbursement are expected to suffer the most under the Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) cuts that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed Sept. 22.
With the proposed rates scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, that leaves just 12
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
CEO SUMMARY: If the draft lab rates that CMS published Sept. 22 for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule for 2018 go into effect Jan. 1 as proposed, then clinical labs will see a cut of 28% in what they get paid for the top 20 most common tests, according to a recent analysis. The rates
By Robert Michel, from the Volume XXIV, No. 14 – October 9, 2017 issue
ON SEPT. 22, MEDICARE OFFICIALS RELEASED THE DRAFT PRICES for the 2018 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. The bad news for the lab industry is that the fee cuts are deeper than the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had predicted earlier.
The price cuts to clinical laboratory test fees will total $670 million in 2018.
By Joseph Burns, from the Volume XXIV, No. 10 – July 17, 2017 issue
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 on her company’s analysis of the payer price data
