With just three days left in 2020, last-ditch efforts to derail HHS’ controversial new hospital transparency rules before they took effect on Jan. 1 failed when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the … [Read more...]
Reimbursement
New Medicare 2021 Pay Rule Penalizes Labs for Long COVID-19 Test Turnaround Times
October 19, 2020
On Oct. 15, CMS announced new Medicare reimbursement policies designed to cut turnaround time and speed up processing of COVID-19 tests. Medicare Reimbursement of COVID-19 Testing When the … [Read more...]
Medicare Reimbursement
The 4 Things Labs Need to Know about CMS’ Newly Proposed 2021 OPPS Rule
September 3, 2020
On Aug. 4, CMS posted the proposed Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) Rule for 2021. In case you don’t feel like reading all 785 pages of the Rule, here’s a high level summary of the four … [Read more...]
New Laws
January 1, 2021 Is D-Day for Hospital Pricing Transparency
September 3, 2020
It appears to be full speed ahead for hospital price transparency. The controversial effort to make hospitals divulge information about their healthcare pricing, including lab procedures, is very much … [Read more...]
Compliance Alert
OIG Targets COVID-19 Test Labs for Potential Add-on Testing Abuses
July 20, 2020
Are labs taking advantage of the unprecedented demand for COVID-19 testing to bill Medicare for high reimbursing and medically unnecessary add-on tests? That’s what the OIG suspects and it plans to … [Read more...]
COVID-19 Relief
HHS Clarifies Rules for Receipt of Provider Relief Fund Payments
May 27, 2020
If like so many other providers trying to survive COVID-19 business disruption, your lab is getting federal CARES relief payments, you need to be aware of the recent rule changes announced by HHS. … [Read more...]
CARES Act
CMS Issues Guidance on Private Payor Reimbursement of COVID-19 Testing
May 24, 2020
If your lab is performing COVID-19 testing for patients covered by private insurance and health plans, you need to be aware of the reimbursement rules set out in the new COVID-19 relief legislation. … [Read more...]
Billing & Coding
New HCPCS Codes for COVID-19 Specimen Collection
April 16, 2020
CMS has established two new Level II HCPCS codes for COVID-19 specimen collection: G2023 - Specimen collection for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus … [Read more...]
PAMA
COVID-19 Relief Bill Defers 2021 Medicare Part B Lab Test Price Cuts for One Year
April 14, 2020
The $2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act), provides for free coronavirus testing without adequately compensating the labs who perform the tests. … [Read more...]
REIMBURSEMENT
By the Numbers: Improper Medicare Payments Hit 10-Year Low
January 13, 2020
As 2019 came to an end, CMS announced that the rate of improper Medicare payments during the year continued to decline, hitting its lowest point since 2010. Here are some of the key numbers: … [Read more...]
