Precision Medicine Requires Targeted Cancer Therapies, but Payers Reluctant to Pay for Some Genetic Testing Needed to Match a Patient with Right Drug
Clinical labs and pathology groups know how advances in targeted therapies and genomics far outpace providers’ and patients’ ability to know how best to use and pay for them. One fascinating development on the road to precision medicine is that many new cancer drugs now in clinical trials will require a companion genetic test to identify patients with tumors that will respond to a specific therapeutic drug.
For Embattled Medical Laboratory Company Theranos, Bad News Keeps on Coming After Two Federal Inspections Show Problems in Certain Lab Practices
High rates of variability from one drop to another raise questions about the reliability of point of care testing equipment and companies that collect lab specimens only with finger sticks Since last fall, one news report after another has come out with bad news for Theranos Inc., the high-profile medical laboratory company. The reports have ranged from dissatisfaction among Theranos’ partners, such as Walgreens and Capital BlueCross, to failed inspection reports from the federal Centers for...Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups May See Fewer Fee-For-Service Payments as More Hospitals and Health Systems Become Self-Insured
As national health insurers push more risk to hospital systems and medical groups, many hospital administrators become more interested in establishing their own health insurance companies New modes of provider reimbursement—such as bundled payments and budgeted payments—are motivating hospitals and health systems to reconsider their existing relationships with health insurers. Hospital administrators want to control the dollars they save by improving patient care, instead of allowing insurance...Bad News for High-Priced Clinical Laboratory and Imaging Test Providers: Castlight Study Finds Consumers Choose Lowest-cost Providers, Regardless of Out-of-Pocket Costs
Study was published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and showed how high-deductible healthcare plans are motivating consumers to use online transparency tools to search for providers that offer greatest value Do consumers choose less expensive medical laboratories and imaging providers when they can see the prices in advance? The findings of a recently released study suggest that the answer is “yes”—that consumers will shop for the clinical laboratory with the cheapest...