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 providers. It taxes gross receipts of more than $5 million for manufacturers and importers of medical devices and is unpopular within the medical device industry, including in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers. (more…)
Feb 15, 2013 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Raising the out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries with Medigap policies not likely to be favorable for medical laboratories
If federal officials have their way, Medicare beneficiaries with comprehensive Medigap polices are likely to pay a greater share of the cost of their medical care. The goal is to reduce use of unnecessary medical services and save Medicare money.
For clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups, this may not be a welcome development. That’s because any requirement for labs to collect more money directly from Medicare beneficiaries will raise the cost of billing and collections—even as medical laboratories also see a rise in bad debt from Medicare beneficiaries, who are not accustomed to paying any money out-of-pocket for most of their medical laboratory tests.
May Be Some Good News for Pathologists
However, there is some good news for pathologists and clinical laboratory managers in this story. A credible source has warned the federal government that increasing the Medicare beneficiary’s costs will not reduce unnecessary utilization of healthcare services. Nor will it save the Medicare program any money. In fact, such actions may have the opposite effect!
The government is considering requiring higher out-of-pocket cost sharing from the 9 million seniors with Medigap policies to cut down on use of unnecessary medical services. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners contend, however, that this would raise Medicare costs over time. (Graphic by Kaiser Health News)
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Jun 25, 2012 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Adoption of EHR systems by small practices, small hospitals, and rural health providers lags behind the pace of urban-based hospitals and physician groups
As larger numbers of physicians implement electronic health record (EHR) systems, clinical laboratories are faced with the task of building interfaces that connect their laboratory information systems (LIS) to those EHRs.
Recent numbers indicate that hundreds of thousands of physicians are now enrolled in the federal EHR incentive program. This puts medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups squarely in the midst of the drive to encourage physicians to both implement an EHR in their clinical practice and use that EHR in ways that meet “Meaningful Use” requirements.
Some 225,765 providers are participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) report that almost $4.5 billion in financial incentives have been paid to hospitals and physicians for implementation of electronic health record (EHR).
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Apr 18, 2012 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Actions by major insurers indicate that ACOs operated by hospitals will have competition
Until recently, most media coverage about nascent accountable care organizations (ACOs) centered on the plans of major hospitals and health systems to organize ACOs within their communities. Now comes news that major health insurers are making sizeable investments as they prepare to launch their own ACOs.
These developments could be auspicious for local clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups. It could mean that in many regions around the United States there will be ACOs operated by hospitals/health systems that compete against ACOs operated by health insurance companies. In turn, that would mean more customers for lab testing services in these cities and towns.
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Aug 10, 2011 | Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Pathology
Obamacare reforms scheduled for 2014 may have negative financial impact for pathology groups and clinical laboratories
It was not welcome news to many healthcare policymakers when McKinsey & Company released the findings of a survey that indicated that as many as 30% of employers were likely to cease offering health insurance coverage to employees when certain mandates of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) take effect in 2014. Criticism of the McKinsey study was swift, and newspapers and television news outlets gave wide coverage to these criticisms.
For pathologists and clinical laboratory managers, this dust-up over the findings of the McKinsey survey of major employers provides a clue as to the more rancorous debates that are yet to come as, year by year, different mandates of the Obamacare law take effect. The details of McKinsey’s survey about how employers are likely to handle employee health insurance coverage are an example of such debates.
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