Sustained Growth in Medicare Advantage Plans Threatens Financial Health of Smaller Pathology Groups and Local Medical Laboratories

Surging enrollment in Medicare Advantage moves patients out of Medicare Part B and thus reduces the ability of regional clinical labs to have access to these Medicare beneficiaries Smaller clinical laboratories and pathology group practices are facing an inauspicious trend. It is the fast growth of enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans that has reached record high numbers each year since 2010. This is not a positive development because it moves Medicare Part B patients out of the...

Theranos Selects Phoenix Metro to Plant Its Flag and Enter the Competitive Market for Clinical 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...

In Florida, UnitedHealthcare’s New Clinical Laboratory Benefit Management Program Triggers Objections from Physicians and Excludes Most Medical Laboratories

College of American Pathologists and associations for family physicians and ob-gyns in Florida have asked UnitedHealthcare to discontinue implementation of BeaconLBS system Medical laboratory testing is at the center of a contest of wills in Florida. On one side is a health insurer that wants to require physicians to obtain pre-notification or preauthorization for a list of clinical laboratory tests. On the other side are the physicians who question the clinical basis for these requirements...

Facing the Looming End of Fee-for-Service, Clinical Laboratories and Anatomic Pathology Groups Look for New Business Models

Failing finances at technical pathology laboratories may be the most immediate concern for many pathology group practices Many clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups now recognize the new reality of the American healthcare system: less reimbursement for laboratory testing. On one hand, the fee-for-service prices for lab tests paid by government and private payers have been aggressively slashed. On the other hand, all payers have become stubbornly resistant to issuing coverage...

More Consolidation in the Clinical Laboratory Industry, as Quest Diagnostics Agrees to Pay $570 Million to Acquire Solstas Lab Partners

When completed, this acquisition will give Quest Diagnostics a major laboratory presence in the backyard of competitor Laboratory Corporation of America Another big lab domino fell in the continuing consolidation of the clinical laboratory testing industry. This time it was Solstas Lab Partners, which announced that it would be acquired by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX). The agreement was announced by both companies earlier this week. Quest Diagnostics will pay $570 million to...
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