Sep 19, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing
Clinical labs should proactively investigate how a vendor will respond to a data security incident and how quickly, says expert Clinical laboratory managers in New York and surrounding areas should be aware that almost one million protected health information (PHI) records from as many as 28 healthcare providers appear to have been stolen from a medical records company that services these providers. Practice Resources LLC (PRL), a company that provides billing services for dozens of hospitals...
Sep 7, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Insurers from three states claim pandemic start-up medical lab company charged as much as $979 for SARS-CoV-2 PCR test In an unprecedented move, Blue Cross insurers in three states are suing a clinical laboratory company in Nebraska for test price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit claims that the lab company charged as much as 10 times more than other labs for similar tests. The interesting twist to the pricing aspect of this story is that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and...
Aug 3, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory News, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Employer group in Houston plans to use the numbers to pressure lawmakers for policy changes involving how hospitals and health plans price their services Clinical laboratory leaders will probably not be surprised to learn that wide disparities exist between what Medicare pays hospitals and what is paid by private insurers and employers. That’s according to analysis by the Houston Business Coalition on Health (HBCH) which examined costs and billing practices at four of the region’s top...
Jul 25, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Testing
Nearly two years after passage of price transparency law, only a small number of the nation’s hospitals are fully compliant, according to two separate reports Price transparency is a major trend in the US healthcare system. Yet, hospitals, physicians, clinical laboratories, and other providers have been reticent to design their websites so it is easy for patients to find prices in advance of clinical care. Now comes news that federal officials are ready to issue fines to hospitals that fail to...
Jul 18, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Resources, Laboratory Testing
Experts say it is time to change Medicare financing, even as large numbers of baby boomers continue to enroll in the program each year Medicare’s fund for payment of inpatient hospital care is expected to be tapped out in 2028. That’s according to a new report from Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds (2022 Medicare Trustees Report). That’s somewhat better than running out of money for inpatient care in 2026, which was what Medicare...
May 23, 2022 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
By shifting away from fee-for-service, the state encouraged collaboration between hospitals and physicians to improve care and lower costs Maryland “leads the way” in value-based payment reform, according to a series of articles published in Health Affairs. “The evidence is clear,” the article declares, “Maryland’s application of uniform prices within global budgets lowers total care costs, reduces unnecessary utilization, and incentivizes proactive preventive and chronic disease management...
