While it may not prevent all violations, the right compliance program can help your lab get lighter penalties if things go wrong. But what exactly is "the right compliance program." On April 30, the … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Brief Your CEO: Explain How New DOJ Guidance Can Get Your Lab Out of FCA Hot Water
June 10, 2019
New guidance from the DOJ lays out sheds light on a crucial matter that many high-ranking lab executives are forced to confront: whether to "play ball" with the federal government when internal … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
HIPAA: New HIPAA Penalties System Rewards Labs that Try to Comply
June 3, 2019
New HHS rules significantly increase the amount of money your lab can save by making diligent and demonstrable efforts to prevent HIPAA violations even when those efforts don't succeed. We're … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE CORNER
Cybersecurity: The 10 Things HHS Says You Should Be Doing to Stop Phishing, Ransomware and Other Threats
February 18, 2019
HHS published guidance on cybersecurity for healthcare organizations. Even though it's voluntary, the new HHS Guidance is significant to the extent it lays out the agency's expectations of the … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Compliance Perspectives: Avoid Kickback Liability by Steering Clear of MD Processing Fees
December 10, 2018
Editor's Note: Two months ago, we talked about paying referring physicians a fee for collecting and processing blood, urine, tissue and other specimens. (G2 Compliance Advisor, Oct. 9, 2018, p. 1). … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Kickbacks: OIG Okays Incentivizing MDs to Order More Early Screening Tests
November 16, 2018
Proactive rather than reactive has become a mantra of the modern health care model. Early and periodic testing of patients is a critical element in this strategy. The problem is that not a lot of … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE GUIDANCE
Compliance Perspectives: Managing Kickback Liability Risks of Specimen Processing Fees
October 9, 2018
It's common practice for labs to pay physicians a fee for collecting and processing blood, urine, tissue, and other specimens from the patients they refer to your lab for testing. While this might … [Read more...]
LAB SAFETY
The Safety Interpretation
September 10, 2018
By Dan Scungio, MT (ASCP), SLS, CQA (ASQ) bio When hospitals were placed on OSHA's list of "high-risk" workplaces, no one had to ask why. OSHA adjusts that list based on the number of … [Read more...]
COMPLIANCE PERSPECTIVES
PAMA Reimbursement: CMS Tells Labs How to Secure ADLT Status for New Tests
April 30, 2018
Although the 2018 market-based Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) is officially in effect, implementation of the new PAMA Part B payment rules for lab tests remains a work in progress. On March … [Read more...]
LEGISLATION
Brief Your CEO: New Penalties Double the Dollar Value of Protecting Your Lab from Liability
April 23, 2018
You may not realize this, but Congress has just doubled the dollar value of what you do as a compliance manager to keep your lab out of federal health care fraud hot water. How? By significantly … [Read more...]
