The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the truth of something the lab industry has known and publicly stated repeatedly for over a decade: The FDA is ill-equipped to regulate Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs) … [Read more...]
Health Care Reform
New COVID-19 Relief Law Aims to Ease the Health Insurance Crisis
March 16, 2021
Even by U.S. government standards, $1.9 trillion is a lot of money. But that’s the money value of the COVID-19 relief under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) signed by President Biden on … [Read more...]
EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE
Here’s new guidance on COVID-19 and FLSA
August 4, 2020
By Mike O’Brien bio For managers in charge of HR, the so-called lazy days of summer have been anything but lazy, as they strive to adapt to the COVID era and stay up to date on seemingly constant … [Read more...]
Reimbursement
Not Making Insurers Pay for Back-to-Work COVID-19 Testing May Leave Labs Holding the Bag
July 20, 2020
Who should pay for desperately needed COVID-19 testing? In the first stage of the public health crisis, the federal government’s answer was that insurers should pay the bills and not pass along the … [Read more...]
Beyond COVID-19
The 6 Hottest Lab Compliance Stories That Almost Nobody Is Paying Attention To
July 20, 2020
If not burnout, you may be suffering from a case of COVID-19 fatigue right now. And you’re not alone. The monster virus has seemingly consumed everything in its path over the past six months, … [Read more...]
Focus On
The Next Round of COVID-19 Legislation: What It Will Take to Prevent a Second Outbreak?
June 17, 2020
The next wave of federal COVID-19 relief legislation is in the works and the lab industry is doing its level best to ensure that it includes the necessary support for lab testing that the previously … [Read more...]
COVID-19 Politics & Lab Testing
$3 Trillion HEROES Stimulus Bill Clears House Will Die in Senate
May 20, 2020
On May 15, the U.S. House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 208 to 199, a new $3 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill that includes $75 billion to support diagnostic testing and contact tracing … [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...]
Industry Buzz
COVID-19 Relief Bill Leaves Labs Out in the Cold
March 30, 2020
Labs who have answered the call to mobilize beyond capacity so that people can be tested for COVID-19 can be forgiven for thinking nobody in Washington “CARES” about them. What else are they supposed … [Read more...]
LDTs
Laboratory Developed Tests: The VALID Act is Back
March 18, 2020
With all the attention commanded by the coronavirus crisis, a potentially huge development affecting the future of the lab industry has flown under the radar. What’s at stake is the issue that has … [Read more...]
