News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups
Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups
Hosted by Robert Michel
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Congress Passes Law Changing How Medicare Sets Prices for Clinical Laboratory Tests; Lab Industry Groups Differ on Which Labs Will Be Winners and Losers

Apr 14, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Leaders from ACLA, AdvaMedDx, CAP, NILA will be at Executive War College on April 29-30 for first medical lab industry debate about the best and worst of the new law

Clinical laboratories will face new financial challenges following passage of a new federal law two weeks ago that makes deep changes in the way Medicare officials will establish prices for the Medicare Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). Many medical laboratory administrators, hospital lab managers, and pathologists remain unaware of the significant negative financial impact this law will have on their lab’s revenue and fiscal stability.

On April 1, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 4302: Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. The law’s primary purpose is to extend the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for 12 months. The House had passed the bill on the previous Thursday and the Senate passed the bill on the following Monday, March 31. (more…)

In Fixing Physician Medicare Pay, Congress Enacts Yet Another Cut in Clinical Laboratory Test Fee Schedule

Feb 20, 2012 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement

A part of this legislation, the grandfather clause on Technical Component (TC) anatomic pathology services was extended through June 1, 2012.

Last Friday, clinical laboratories got bad news about new cuts to the Medicare Part B medical laboratory test fee schedule. Congress voted on a temporary funding fix to keep Medicare physician fees at current levels for 10 more months and a reduction in lab test fees was one source of the money that Congress used to fund this bill.

Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers will be disappointed to learn that the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) was cut by 2% when Congress voted on Friday, February 17, to approve a deal to extend the payroll tax cut for nine months. President Obama could sign the bill into law today (Monday, February 20). The cuts to lab test fees are estimated to total $2.7 billion over 10 years.

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