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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Jul 15, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Document leak earlier this week pulls curtain back on potential cuts to Medicare/Medicaid spending
Spending cuts of between $334 billion and $353 billion over the next 10 years are on the table in the negotiations over the federal debt ceiling. The bad news for the clinical laboratory industry is that restoration of the Medicare patient co-pay for medical laboratory tests is not only on the list of proposed spending cuts, but represents a significant chunk of money—as much as $16 billion during the next decade!
Typical of beltway politics, it was only because of a leak that the list of proposed Medicare and Medicaid spending cuts became public knowledge. On Tuesday this week, Kaiser Health News was one of the first to report the leak of the documents. It also posted a copy of the briefing documents on its website.
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Feb 14, 2011 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
CMS says it will take steps to rescind the final rule before its scheduled implementation on April 1, 2011
Clinical laboratories and pathology groups will welcome the news that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will take steps to rescind the final rule that requires the physician’s signature be on all paper requisitions for medical laboratory tests ordered on behalf of Medicare patients. It means that implementation of the rule—now scheduled to become effective on April 1, 2011—will not happen if CMS officials act in a timely manner.
Dark Daily has learned that last Friday a conference call took place involving Jonathan Blum, Director of the Center for Medicare Management, and representatives from the American Association of Bioanalysts (AAB) and the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA). During the conference call, Blum disclosed that a decision had been reached within CMS to rescind the final rule that would require physicians’ signatures on paper requisitions for medical laboratory tests. Apparently, CMS intends to take the steps necessary to rescind this final rule before its effective date of April 1, 2011.
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