Feb 11, 2009 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Pathology
Pathologists and lab directors concerned about training staff to implement the new ICD-10 code sets can relax-but only just a bit! The federal Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) has pushed back the compliance deadline for implementing the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) code sets. The new implementation deadline of October 1, 2013; replaces the existing deadline of October 1, 2011. As it announced this extension in implementation of ICD-10 on...
Jan 26, 2009 | Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Wall Street has yet to grasp this essential truth of laboratory medicine-lab test quality comes with its own price tag At this moment in time, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s (NYSE:DGX) advertised value proposition to other labs—”industry-leading quality and technical proficiency”—has diminished credibility with pathologists and lab industry executives. They are questioning how the nation’s largest lab company could allow systemic errors that caused it to report...
Jan 7, 2009 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is the latest concept in managed care. Primary care physicians, relegated to gatekeeper status in the HMO model of the 1990s, are elevated to the status of healthcare guru, taking the role of coordinating care, counseling, and educating patients. Launching the first statewide Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), programs are Rhode Island and North Dakota. The PCMH concept, which has been endorsed by the AMA, is a care delivery model that provides patients...
Dec 9, 2008 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
It’s no surprise that topping The Dark Report’s list of Top Ten Most Important Stories of 2008 for the laboratory industry is the successful repeal of the Medicare Part B Laboratory Services Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project. Across the nation, labs feared the consequences were federal health officials to have implemented the flawed scheme that was scheduled to commence in the San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos SMA (statistical metropolitan area) by July 1, 2008. Our list of the...
Nov 24, 2008 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Probably the single most publicized healthcare statistic is “46 million uninsured Americans.” But who are these people? I’ll bet you don’t know, for a simple reason. Television and newspaper stories almost never explain where the 46 million uninsured number originated, nor how it was calculated. Thus, an essay in last week’s Wall Street Journal was enlightening. Titled “What Do We Know about the Uninsured?”, it was written by William Snyder, a policy...
