Federal Judges Block Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana Deals to Protect Market Competition and Healthcare Consumers

May 8, 2017 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Mergers that would have reshaped the nation’s largest insurance companies would directly affect the provider networks independent medical laboratories rely on For pathology groups and medical laboratories, the news about two thwarted deals involving mega insurance companies might be seen as a positive development. The proposed deals—Anthem’s $48-billion bid to buy Cigna, and a proposed $37-billion Aetna-Humana merger—would have reshaped the US health insurance industry had they not been...

Health Diagnostic Laboratory and Singulex to Pay $48.5M to Settle Fraud Charges Involving Kickbacks and Unnecessary Testing as Feds Sue Two More Medical Labs and Three Executives on Similar Charges

Apr 13, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations

Under the DOJ’s settlement agreement, HDL may need to pay as much as $100 million, according to a published report Health Diagnostics Laboratory Inc. (HDL), of Richmond, Virginia, and Singulex Inc., of Alameda, California, agreed to pay $48.5 million to settle charges that they violated the False Claims Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday. According to the DOJ, the labs violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying physicians in exchange for patient referrals, in addition to...

American Medical Association’s Study of Nation’s 25 Largest Health Insurers Indicates that Biggest Companies Hold Dominant Market Share in Most Regional Markets

Jan 9, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology

Survey results show pathologists and clinical lab managers why largest health insurers have market clout and can exclude local labs from their provider networks Over the past two decades, ongoing mergers and acquisitions of health insurance organizations have led to ever-greater concentration of market share, even as the number of large health insurance companies has shrunk. One consequence of this trend is that many clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups have lost access to...

Federal Appeals Court Hears Arguments in the Myriad Genetics’ Gene Patent Case

Apr 22, 2011 | Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily

At issue is ability of biotech companies to hold patents on genes that might be used in clinical laboratory testing Patents involving human genes have always been controversial among pathologists and clinical laboratory managers. This is one reason why many in the medical laboratory testing industry are following the progress of the well-publicized lawsuit that challenged certain patents involving human genes that are held by Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), of Salt Lake City, Utah. In the...
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