Payers Hit Medical Laboratories with More and Tougher Audits: Why Even Highly-Compliant Clinical Labs and Pathology Groups Are at Risk of Unexpected Recoupment Demands
A related issue is the growing use of contract sales representatives to sell clinical laboratory and pathology testing services and whether such arrangements violate federal compliance requirements
More and tougher payer audits are hitting an expanding number of clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups in recent months. Across the nation, experts in medical laboratory billing and collections are reporting that health insurers are auditing for a host of issues, several of them unexpected and without precedent.
Three types of clinical lab companies seem to be the highest-profile targets for these intense payer audits. Reports identify lab companies offering toxicology and pain management testing as undergoing rigorous audits. Medical lab companies with proprietary molecular diagnostic assays and genetic tests are known to have been audited in this manner. Some anatomic pathology groups are believed to have also experienced such audits. (more…)
