Washington Puts Lab-Test Cost-Cutting on the Table for 2012:
Devastating Fee Cuts Plus Other Congressional Proposals and
How Your Lab Can Prevent Them
Positioning your lab to provide critical value-added
services in the new healthcare environment
Everything your lab fears about congressional action to reinstitute patient co-insurance for Medicare lab testing may come true during 2012. And that’s not the worst of it.
Even as you read this, Congress is debating other equally damaging proposals to substantially reduce reimbursement for laboratory testing. Experts predict that these budget debates could result in painful cutbacks of lab-test fees.
To help you guide your laboratory through these uncertain times, The Dark Report and DarkDaily.com is hosting two experts who will give you an insider’s understanding of what’s unfolding inside the Beltway for 2012.
Alan Mertz, President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) has been on the front lines educating Congress and policy-makers about the value of laboratory testing. Get his perspective on these issues when you register for a special audio conference, “Washington Puts Lab-Test Cost-Cutting on the Table for 2012: Devastating Fee Cuts Plus Other Congressional Proposals and How Your Lab Can Prevent Them,” held on Wednesday, October 26, 2011.
Mertz will be joined by Peter Kazon, Senior Counsel in the Washington D.C. office of Alston & Bird. Kazon has been front and center in many of the most important legislative battles involving the lab-testing industry in recent years.
Together, these two experts will give you unprecedented access to how the political process really works and why this session of Congress may be the most financially destructive for clinical labs and anatomic pathology groups.
You’ll hear about the “big-three” threats to lab-test reimbursement winding their way through Congress:
- Why reinstatement of the 20% Medicare patient lab-test co-pay/co-insurance requirement could pass in this Congress.
- MedPAC’s recommendation, made last month, that Congress hack $11 billion out of lab-testing funding over the next 10 years. Where will that money go? To boost primary-care physician payment levels.
- How the 12-member, bipartisan congressional super committee created by last summer’s debt-limit legislation is making its own plans to cut lab-test reimbursement-without public hearings. Their lab-specific proposals would produce up to $24 billion in savings over the next decade.
And there’s more! As Medicare officials and congressional committees assess coverage guidelines, this year they have extra motivation to cut healthcare spending. In addition, Congress could legislate more restrictive guidelines on when and how physicians can use new molecular CPT codes and how labs will be reimbursed for them.
If all this doesn’t scare you, it should. This is not “business as usual” in Washington these days. Each of these threats to the existing level of lab-test reimbursement is in active discussion somewhere in the executive and legislative branches.
Join us for this “must-attend” event that will provide you with the information you need to guide your laboratory through these uncharted waters.
You and your colleagues still have time to educate your senators and representatives about these issues. Register today and learn how you can educate these officials and what steps your laboratory can take to go on the record about the negative impact these proposals will have on patient care.
Whether you’re a lab administrator, pathologist, or industry consultant, you need the most current information on proposed lab-testing industry legislation, how it could impact your lab and the possible strategies to keep Medicare co-pay legislation from becoming a reality.
Register today to guarantee your place at this essential learning session. And remember that your entire management team can learn and participate when you register.
THE DARK REPORT AUDIO CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE
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For one low price-just $245- you and your entire team can take part in this fast-paced, insightful audio conference. Best of all, you’ll be able to connect personally with our speakers when we open up the phone lines for live Q&A.
Here’s just some of what you’ll learn during this in-depth 90-minute audio conference:
- The latest Medicare lab cost-sharing proposals being considered by Congress and what they could mean for your lab.
- The potential impact of lab co-pays or co-insurance on laboratories and Medicare beneficiaries.
- Why lab co-insurance is now being considered when it’s been rejected so many times in the past.
- Who MedPac is and why they’re recommending major lab-test fee reductions.
- The primary arguments against the 20% copay proposal.
- What your lab can do to educate Congress and stop it from passing legislation that imposes lab co-insurance and reimbursement cuts.
- Other proposed regulatory action, including the possible elimination of code stacking.
- The potential for FDA regulation of lab-developed tests.
…and much more!
How to Order Now:
1. Online
2. Call toll free: 800-560-6363.
Your audio conference registration includes:
- A downloadable PowerPoint presentations from our speaker
- A full transcript emailed to you soon after the conference
Order Now! Or for more information, call us toll-free at 800-560-6363
Distinguished Faculty:
Peter Kazon is a Senior Counsel in the Washington D.C. office of Alston & Bird. He advises laboratories, diagnostic companies and companies with new technologies on regulatory and compliance matters, including approval and clearance, coverage, coding, and reimbursement issues. He serves as outside counsel to the American Clinical Laboratory Association. Mr. Kazon received his BA, magna cum laude, from Tufts University and earned his JD from Temple University.
Alan Mertz has been President of ACLA since 2003. He has overseen tripling of ACLA’s membership; greater visibility of ACLA in Congress and the Administration; expansion of ACLA membership services, meetings and programs; and a series of key advocacy successes. From 1998-2003, Mr. Mertz was Executive Vice President and Acting President of the Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), and from 1980 to 1998 served in three senior staff positions in the House and Senate. He was selected as a John C. Stennis Congressional Fellow in 1996, taught as an adjunct professor at George Washington University from 1997-1999, and is a lecturer at American University in Washington, D.C. Mr. Mertz holds a master’s degree in American politics from American University and a BA in government from Monmouth College.
ACCENT® Continuing Education Credit
The American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) designates this program for a maximum of 1.5 ACCENT® credit hours towards the AACC Clinical Chemist’s Recognition Award. AACC is an approved provider of continuing education for clinical laboratory scientists in the states of California, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
