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This biweekly newsletter provides concise, independent coverage and analysis of fast-breaking lab, pathology, blood banking, imaging and diagnostic radiology news from the Nation's Capital.
You'll find out about:
- Medicare payment and policy directives Billing guidelines and coding changes for diagnostic facilities
- CLIA & MQSA regulatory mandates, changes and interpretations
- Congressional actions & legislative initiatives
- Federal compliance requirements
- OIG anti-fraud initiatives
- Stark self-referral prohibitions
Plus you will get other legal news regarding FDA oversight of in vitro diagnostics, blood banks, and radiological devices OSHA, NRC, and state safety standards.
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 | NIR November 6, 2006 (full PDF issue) |
| Medicare outpatient PPS payments to increase in 2007
Draft bill for more FDA controls on ‘home brew’ tests worries lab industry
Future of the clinical laboratory workforce: supply/demand and changing roles for advanced practice––see the Focus
—Backdrop to the future
—Forecast for the future
—Interdisciplinary roles
—Pathologists and consults on lab medicine
Medicare identifies more physician quality measures for 2007
Medicare payment errors continue to decline, says CMS
Medicare managed care watch: More plans, more choices, including medical savings accounts, next year
Full Article |
| Hopes Dim for Lab Workforce Legislation |
| Despite lobbying by clinical laboratory and pathology societies in support of legislation addressing lab workforce issues, it is unlikely that the post-election "lame-duck" Congress will authorize new spending targeted to lab personnel training or restore funds cut this year from the Title VII allied health training account, a small portion of which goes to programs for medical technologists and medical lab technicians.
Full Article |
| Final Medicare Rule Cuts Physician Fees, Punts on Pod Labs |
| Unless Congress intervenes, Medicare payments for physician services will be cut 5%, starting January 1, under the final 2007 physician fee schedule rule released November 1. The cut, lower than the 5.1% cut projected earlier this year, is being made in accord with the statutory fee update formula, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Full Article |
| Industry Anxious Over Proposed New ‘Home Brew’ Controls |
| In a move that has triggered concern in the clinical laboratory industry, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has said he plans to soon introduce legislation requiring expanded and tighter federal regulation of tests that labs develop in-house, commonly known as "home brew" tests.
Full Article |
| The Changing Landscape of Supply/Demand, Clinical Practice |
| Hospitals and other testing facilities can expect more difficulty in finding and keeping qualified testing personnel as demand continues to outstrip supply in the clinical laboratory workforce. The imbalance will only get worse over the next decade, most research studies show, as the aging lab workforce begins to retire and there aren’t enough new graduates to fill vacated and new positions.
Full Article |
| Medicare to Expand Physician Quality Measures in 2007 |
| Starting January 1, 2007, Medicare plans to increase the number and range of quality measures that physicians are encouraged to report when submitting Part B claims. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has identified 86 unique quality measures affecting 32 of 39 medical specialties that are expected to be available next year.
Full Article |
| Medicare Managed Care Watch |
| More Medicare Advantage health plans will be available to beneficiaries in 2007, including, for the first time, high-deductible coverage linked to tax-free medical savings accounts (MSAs), says the CMS Center for Beneficiary Choices.
Full Article |
| Medicare Payment Errors Continue to Drop, Says CMS |
| The error rate in reimbursing Medicare fee-for-service claims dropped in 2006 to 4.4% from 5.2% the year before, saving the federal program $1.3 billion in improper payouts, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently announced.
Full Article |
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