Apr 14, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Leaders from ACLA, AdvaMedDx, CAP, NILA will be at Executive War College on April 29-30 for first medical lab industry debate about the best and worst of the new law
Clinical laboratories will face new financial challenges following passage of a new federal law two weeks ago that makes deep changes in the way Medicare officials will establish prices for the Medicare Part B Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). Many medical laboratory administrators, hospital lab managers, and pathologists remain unaware of the significant negative financial impact this law will have on their lab’s revenue and fiscal stability.
On April 1, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 4302: Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. The law’s primary purpose is to extend the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for 12 months. The House had passed the bill on the previous Thursday and the Senate passed the bill on the following Monday, March 31. (more…)
Apr 9, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
In New York City, innovative clinical laboratories have the opportunity to become a network provider for the region’s newest health insurance company
Three Generation Y entrepreneurs are ready to take on traditional health insurers with their own innovative health insurance company. They claim their novel start-up can better meet the new consumer expectations and behaviors within the insurance industry. If correct, their venture could disrupt the post-Obamacare insurance world.
Game-changing Health Insurance Company?
The Gen Y trio is made up of Josh Kushner, Kevin Namezi, and Mario Schlosser. They recently launched Oscar Health Insurance, based in New York. Kushner is the founder of the tech investment firm Thrive Capital. Kevin Nazemi, Oscar’s president, is a former director of healthcare for Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Mario Schlosser is a former McKinsey & Company computer scientist. (more…)
Apr 7, 2014 | Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Variability in how tissue is handled from one histopathology laboratory to another greatly affects quality of specimen and accuracy of the pathologist’s diagnosis
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA—Here on the shores of Lake Ontario, pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals gathered last week for a unique conference that focused on quality issues involving how tissue is handled from collection and transport to the histopathology laboratory processing to diagnosis by surgical pathologists.
Your Dark Daily editor was here to participate in the conference and learn from a first-rank panel of speakers. As many long-time readers know, patients, physicians, and health insurers expect increasingly higher levels of accuracy in how lab specimens are handled and greater precision in the resulting diagnosis that is produced by pathologists. Thus, a conference dedicated to tissue specimen integrity and quality is both timely and appropriate. (more…)
Apr 4, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Medical laboratory test data is one cornerstone of this data mining activity and pathologists are well-positioned to take a more prominent role in helping clinicians use lab tests more effectively
Data mining has arrived at many hospitals and health systems. The goal is to mine large quantities of clinical data to identify useful patterns that can guide clinicians to intervene with specific patients. This trend creates a big opportunity for pathology informaticians to step forward and contribute to improved patient care in significant ways.
Progressive healthcare networks, such as the Carolinas HealthCare System, are creating a lot of buzz for their aggressive and smart use of technology and data. The idea is to ultimately reinvent care—in response to new payment schemes—by preventing acute and critical episodes that may require inappropriate readmissions. (more…)
Apr 2, 2014 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
NEWS UPDATE: American Association of Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is given four-year authority to accredit clinical laboratories to CLIA requirements for all specialty and subspecialty lab test areas
There’s a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-approved (CMS) accrediting organization for clinical laboratories. Medicare officials granted deeming status for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). The approval marks the first time in two decades that CMS has added a new organization to accredit medical laboratories under CLIA.
CMS announced the approval in a notice published March 25 in the Federal Register. CMS approved A2LA’s application as an accreditation organization for clinical laboratories under CLIA for all specialty and subspecialty areas for four years. “We have determined that the A2LA meets or exceeds the applicable CLIA requirements,” stated the CMS announcement. (more…)
Apr 2, 2014 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Hospitals and physicians are acting quickly to improve their ability to collect directly from patients as vendors enter market with new collection tools; clinical labs are slower to respond to this fast-moving trend
Collecting deductibles from patients and tackling growing bad debt is quickly becoming a priority at hospitals and health systems around the nation. Clinical laboratories and pathology groups face the same need to become better at collecting money directly from patients at time of service.
By now, it has become clear to most providers that most health insurance plans include requirements that consumers meet a substantial annual deductible—anywhere from $1,500 to as much as $10,000 for a family. Co-payment amounts also have increased significantly, particularly for ancillary services such as medical laboratory tests and imaging studies.
Higher annual deductibles and co-pays are a feature of the new Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum health plans offered through the health insurance exchanges established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But this is equally true of many private health insurance plans. (more…)
