Urine drug testing for purposes of medical treatment is deemed medically necessary under Medicare billing and payment rules. The same is not true for specimen validity tests (SVT), a quality control … [Read more...]
Labs In Court
October 28, 2019
A roundup of recent cases and enforcement actions involving the diagnostics industry ACLA Goes for Knockout Punch in PAMA Lawsuit Case: Having survived a first-round setback, the American … [Read more...]
REIMBURSEMENT
Medicare Reimbursement: MIPS Bonuses Are Easy to Earn, IF You Can Get into the Program
September 23, 2019
On July 11, CMS announced the results of 2018, Year 2 under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Bottom line: The total number of clinicians participating declined from 1.06 million to … [Read more...]
WHISTLEBLOWERS
Billing & Coding: Myriad Genetics Pays $9.1 Million to Settle Claims of Falsely Billing Medicare for Hereditary Cancer Tests
July 30, 2019
In March 2018, Myriad Genetics got a piece of mail no lab provider ever wants to see in its inbox: an OIG subpoena asking for billing records in connection with "an investigation into possible false … [Read more...]
REIMBURSEMENT
Kentucky Pain Clinic Pays $127K to Settle Specimen Validity Test Billing Claims
April 12, 2019
Case: The Northern Kentucky Center for Pain Relief agreed to pay the OIG $126,799.90 to settle claims of billing Medicare for specimen validity testing (SVT). Explanation: Under Medicare rules, urine … [Read more...]
PAYER CONTRACTS
Three key items to negotiate for successful payer contracts
April 8, 2019
By Steve Selbst bio The purpose of this article is to help you, as a provider, to focus on three key items to look for in payer contracts that will help you to get profitable contracts in … [Read more...]
CMS
PAMAgeddon: GAO Official Acknowledges Flaws in Lab Price Report as a Powerful Senator Enters the Scene
March 27, 2019
In November 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a controversial report suggesting that the new PAMA system will result in billions of dollars worth of Medicare overpayments … [Read more...]
OUTPATIENT PAYMENTS
How to Determine Date of Service for Part B Billing of Outpatient Lab Tests
March 15, 2019
Date of service rules affect whether outpatient lab tests are part of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) bundled payment or can be billed separately under Part B. Last month, … [Read more...]
REIMBURSEMENT
Medicare Reimbursement: CMS Limits NGS Early Cancer Test Coverage but Industry Fires Back
February 22, 2019
Getting Medicare to cover Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) tests has been a slow go. And the latest CMS National Coverage Determination (NCD) for early stage cancer NGS testing of patients with … [Read more...]
WORKING WITH PAYERS
Billing & Coding: Pathology Group Asks CMS to Raise Medicare Prices for BRCA1/2 Sequencing Tests
January 23, 2019
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) thinks the final 2019 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule payment amounts shortchanges labs that provide BRCA genetic testing and is calling on CMS to … [Read more...]
