Proposed Expansion of Screening for HIV and Hepatitis C Could be Good News/Bad News Stories for Clinical Pathology Laboratories
Expanded universal screening would increase costs to the healthcare system; would the healthcare system shortchange clinical labs inadequate reimbursement for the increased number of screening tests?
Separate recommendations that call for widespread, regular screening for HIV and hepatitis C can be considered to be good news/bad news stories for the clinical laboratory testing industry. That’s because the benefits in patient health are likely to incur additional costs for which the healthcare system is not likely to fully reimburse the medical laboratories performing these screening tests.
To improve detection and diagnosis of HIV, a story published in Reuters reported that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) will issue a new recommendation to make human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening a standard practice. Experts believe that such a strategy would fundamentally change how the virus is detected and treated. (more…)
