Jan 13, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Some physicians fear disclosure of payments by drug and medical device companies could damage patient confidence and physician-patient relationships Over the course of 2014, pathologists and medical laboratory managers will experience a different relationship with in vitro diagnostic (IVD) manufacturers and other lab industry vendors. That’s because a new federal law requires vendors to publicly disclose financial and other arrangements they have with providers. That law is the Physician...
Mar 13, 2013 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Lots of controversy is associated with this new tax levy that was mandated by the Affordable Care Act Will it be medical device manufacturers or their customers—including medical laboratories—who pay the new 2.3% medical device tax that became effective on January 1, 2013? That question is being asked by healthcare policymakers and experts, as well as pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators. This new tax is mandated by the Affordable Care Act on medical device sales to healthcare...
Sep 4, 2012 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Many products that medical laboratories use will be covered under the new UDI system You’re reading it here first! UPCs—universal product codes—are coming soon to the medical laboratory analyzers and other products that your clinical laboratory purchases. Under a proposed rule published by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), medical devices will soon have UDIs—universal device identifiers. You know about UPCs. Those are the ubiquitous “universal product codes” that are found on literally...
Apr 13, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Hospital laboratories may find GPOs respond by contracting with more vendors to expand choices of products Major changes are unfolding in the world of group purchasing organizations (GPOs). As healthcare’s transformation shifts the clinical and financial emphasis of hospitals, health systems, and other providers, these institutions are changing their relationship with GPOs. In turn, such trends mean changes in the GPO contracts available to hospital laboratories. In the United States, every...
Dec 13, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Researchers Offer Evidence that Hospitals and Pathology Labs Often Negotiate Lower Prices on Their Own Even as Congress shines a spotlight on the business activities of group purchasing organizations (GPOs), the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA) has made public a research study it initiated about GPO contract practices. This report says an inherent conflict of interest prevents GPOs from obtaining the lowest possible prices for its hospital and clinical pathology laboratory...