May 4, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
As predicted by Fortune Magazine in its coverage of Theranos, with its expansion into Phoenix, the lab company is getting its closest scrutiny from pathologists and medical technologists
Recent developments in Phoenix, Arizona, make it clear that Theranos has chosen this desert metropolis to be the launching pad for its much-publicized proprietary clinical laboratory testing business.
The highly-secretive company, which claims to have more market value than either Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) or Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH), is now building the infrastructure needed to operate as a local medical laboratory company in Phoenix.
Theranos Has CLIA Laboratory in Scottsdale
The April 20 issue of The Dark Report presented two exclusive intelligence briefings about Theranos and its business plans. The company now has its “wellness centers” operating in about 41 Walgreens pharmacies throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. It has opened a clinical laboratory facility in Scottsdale and is currently working to acquire its CLIA certification. When certified, this lab facility will allow Theranos to perform testing locally, eliminating the need to transport all specimens to its CLIA lab in Fremont, California. (more…)
Mar 6, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
After seeing a rise in the volume of clinical lab tests physicians order, managed care plans are develop a variety of strategies to manage utilization and costs
Health insurers are taking more aggressive actions to control the cost of clinical laboratory testing. For many years, clinical laboratories and pathology groups have been concerned about the strategies used by Medicare to control the utilization and costs of medical laboratory tests. Private health insurers usually follow the actions of Medicare, the nation’s largest health insurer. But today, managed care plans are developing their own lab-test-utilization strategies in addition to following those of Medicare.
Recently, Managed Care magazine explained many of the steps health insurers take to keep the costs of clinical laboratory tests under control. The cover story in the October issue of the magazine, “Health Plans Deploy New Systems To Control Use of Lab Tests,” outlined how health insurers Cigna, Group Health Cooperative, Priority Health, and UnitedHealthcare (UHC) are managing lab test utilization. (more…)
Mar 2, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Miami physician asks why UnitedHealthcare requires use of the BeaconLBS system for authorization for recommended medical laboratory tests that may help identify lymphoma early
In Florida, the confrontation between one of the nation’s largest health insurance corporations and physicians, clinical laboratory managers, and pathologists continues. The source of this confrontation are the restrictive and burdensome requirements for medical laboratory test ordering imposed last fall by UnitedHealthcare (NYSE:UNH) and administered by BeaconLBS, a business division of Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE:LH).
For Florida rheumatologist Olga Kromo, M.D., UnitedHealthcare’s new decision-support system that physicians are required to use when ordering clinical laboratory tests is highly flawed. (more…)
Feb 9, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Three out of five NIPT laboratories returned normal or negative test results for samples taken from non-pregnant women in undercover test performance assessment
Clinical laboratory companies that offer genetic tests may want to be on the alert. Secret shoppers are submitting specimens for the purpose of assessing the quality, the accuracy, and the clinical relevance of the proprietary medical laboratory tests they perform.
One such report was published in GenomeWeb under the title “Undercover Assessment of Five Commercial NIPT Labs Points to Need for Better Quality Control.” The goal of the report was to emphasize the need for standards to ensure quality and accuracy of molecular assays and genetic tests.
This report discussed results from an undercover performance assessment of five commercial laboratories, each of which offers Non-Invasive Prenatal Tests (NIPTs). GenomeWeb reported that three test results reported normal or negative test results for a female fetus, despite the fact that the samples submitted had been taken from non-pregnant women. (more…)
Jan 5, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Health plan sets no new date for BeaconLBS claims-payment decisions but promises 30-days’ notice before making decisions on claims payment
Physicians, pathologists, and clinical laboratories in Florida got a late Christmas present last week. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) (NYSE:UNH) postponed the date when its medical laboratory benefit-management pilot program in Florida, administered by BeaconLBS, would affect claims payments.
This was welcome news, because, beginning January 1, if physicians serving UHC patients had failed to use the BeaconLBS system to obtain pre-notification or pre-authorization for 82 medical laboratory tests, the physicians or labs performing the tests would not be paid by UHC—nor could clinical labs and pathology groups in the UHC provider network bill patients for these tests. (more…)
