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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 February 12, 2007 (full PDF issue) |
| President’s healthcare tax break gets no break on Capitol Hill
Bush sends mixed message to states on covering the uninsured
President’s Medicare goals on collision course with Democratic health leaders—see Focus
—Slowing program spending growth
—Providers under the ax
—Physician fee cut assumed
—Cuts in physician fees
—Lab competitive bidding
Medicare Payment & Claims Advisory
—Cost-based payment extended for small rural hospital labs
—Carriers told to process all ICD-9 codes reported
—CMS on track in switch to new claims processing MACs
Senate panel approves genetic anti-discrimination ban
‘Hot Topic’ audio conference, Feb. 22: Pathology practice—examining and reducing errors
Full Article |
| Senate Bill Would Make TC ‘Grandfather’ Protection Permanent |
| Bipartisan legislation that would make permanent the currently temporary “grandfather” protection for certain pathology technical component (TC) billings by independent labs was introduced in the Senate on January 31.
Full Article |
| Bush’s ’08 Budget: Nothing for Labs, Pathologists to Cheer About |
| To the dismay of clinical laboratory interests, the President’s budget request for fiscal 2008 repeats his call for nationwide competitive bidding for Medicare lab services, even though a congressionally required lab bidding demo has yet to be launched.
Full Article |
| Bush’s Healthcare Tax Break Gets Chilly Reception on Capitol Hill |
| President Bush’s proposal to give a standard tax deduction to all Americans who purchase healthcare coverage got a decidedly cold shoulder from a key House Democratic health leader, but a key Senate Democratic health leader was not as dismissive.
Full Article |
| President Sends Mixed Message to States on the Uninsured |
| While President Bush has pledged to support state initiatives to cover their uninsured residents, his fiscal 2008 budget request could undercut these efforts by proposed changes to Medicaid and SCHIP (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program).
Full Article |
| FOCUS ON: The FY 2008 Medicare Budget: Bush’s Proposals on Collision Course With Democratic Health Leaders |
| As part of his plan to balance the federal budget by 2012, President George W. Bush is calling for whopping spending cuts in Medicare totaling nearly $76 billion over the next five years, with most of the savings achieved by reducing provider payment updates and raising premiums for higher-income beneficiaries. The plan also seeks savings by introducing nationwide competitive bidding for Medicare lab services, an idea anathema to the clinical laboratory industry.
Full Article |
| Medicare Payment & Claims Advisory |
| Effective January 1 of this year, cost-based reimbursement for outpatient clinical laboratory tests furnished by small rural hospitals is extended for an additional year. Generally, these tests are paid via the Medicare fee schedule, but the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 added payment on a reasonable cost basis for these tests to hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in qualified rural areas for cost reporting periods beginning July 1, 2004.
Full Article |
| Genetic Anti-Discrimination Bill Clears Senate Panel |
| The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee on January 31 approved legislation (S. 358) that would prohibit health insurers and employers from misusing an individual’s genetic information.
Full Article |
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