By Dan Scungio bio Scenario: The reference cytology lab has always had limited storage space for supplies and specimens. They use tall wire racks to store the many liquid-based cytology specimen … [Read more...]
ENFORCEMENT
Enforcement Trends: False Claims Act Recoveries Increase as Labs Remain in Firing Line
January 24, 2020
The dollars paid by healthcare providers in federal False Claims Act settlements and judgments increased for the second year in row in 2019. After a surprising decline in 2017, total recoveries … [Read more...]
ENFORCEMENT
Enforcement Trends: The Top 5 Lab False Claims Act Settlements of 2019
January 24, 2020
Labs were on the paying end of at least eight million-dollar False Claims Act (FCA) settlements or judgments in the 2019 fiscal year. Here’s a review of the top 5 reported FCA recoveries against a lab … [Read more...]
Labs In Court
Lab Uses Billing Info of Another Lab to Get Around Payment Restrictions
January 20, 2020
Case: In 2015, Kentucky Medicaid and private payors began having doubts about the legitimacy of urine drug test claims submitted by CAL Laboratory Services and restricted payments to the toxicology … [Read more...]
LABS IN COURT
Massachusetts Practice Busted for Taking Free POCT Cups from Millennium
January 15, 2020
Case: A northern Massachusetts medical practice and Detroit pain clinic became the latest downstream providers to pay the OIG a five-figure fine to settle kickback claims in the form of accepting free … [Read more...]
Employment Law Update
New overtime rule now in effect
January 14, 2020
By Mike O’Brien bio Jan. 1, 2020 was the deadline to comply with new FLSA overtime rule. At the end of September the Department of Labor issued its long-awaited final rule updating the salary … [Read more...]
In Brief: OIG Opens Second Avenue for Anti-Kickback Statute Revisions
January 13, 2020
Even as we wait for the second draft of the proposed new value-based kickback relief rules—see National Intelligence Report (NIR), Nov. 15, 2019—the OIG issued its annual call for recommendations for … [Read more...]
Compliance Perspectives: New Laws & the Top 5 Challenges Lab Compliance Officers Face in 2020
January 2, 2020
Labs remain at the forefront of the federal government’s suspicious persons list and health care fraud enforcement agenda. But in addition to the customary laws that labs are used to, the government … [Read more...]
NEWS
The Year in Labs Regulation: The 6 Biggest Stories of 2019
January 2, 2020
"May you live in interesting times.” This ancient Chinese curse extolling the virtues of stability may resonate with those of you who work in the lab industry and have a stake in federal … [Read more...]
Labs In Court
November 28, 2019
A roundup of recent cases and enforcement actions involving the diagnostics industry Lab’s ‘False Positive’ Drug Test Report ≠ Defamation of Employee Case: An Arkansas nurse got fired … [Read more...]
