Making this protection permanent is a legislative goal for the College of American Pathologists, the American Clinical Laboratory Association, and other provider groups. Last year, Congress approved a one-year extension, through 2007.
The "grandfather" protection allows qualified clinical labs to be paid by Medicare for the technical component of pathology services to hospital inpatients and outpatients. It applies to hospital-lab arrangements in effect as of July 22, 1999. CMS recently notified local Medicare contractors that it was canceling its plan to eliminate the protection as of January 1, 2007.
January 15, 2007 - Table of Contents
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