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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 January 14, 2008 (full PDF issue) |
| Impact of Medicare fee increase on flow cytometry, in situ hybridization codes—see Table
Senate bill calls for CLIA cytology PT overhaul
Medicare’s 2008 lab fee schedule: What the payment policies mean for your lab
—Freeze on fee updates, Pap smear payment
—Fee crosswalks for new CPT lab codes
—Travel allowance held to 2007 levels
First rapid blood test for drug-resistant staph gets FDA okay
CMS delays anti-markup provisions for certain diagnostic tests
Lab competitive bidding timeline for demo
Don’t miss LabCompete, Feb. 6-8, Tucson, AZ. For info, go to g2reports.com/LabCompete08
Full Article |
| CMS Uses Crosswalks to Set Fees for New Lab Codes in 2008 |
| Prices for new CPT codes added to the Medicare lab fee schedule in 2008 have been established using the crosswalk method, which matches payment rates to existing codes. There are no new test codes to be gap-filled, a method based on local pricing patterns.
Full Article |
| Medicare Revises Conversion Factor to Reflect Physician Fee Hike |
| The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced a revised conversion factor for calculating Part B physician fees that reflects the 0.5% increase Congress approved, effective January 1, 2008, and blocks a 10% cut due to take effect this year under the statutory fee update formula. The CF translates a physician service’s relative value units (RVUs) into a dollar amount.
Full Article |
| Senate Bill Introduced to Overhaul CLIA Cytology PT |
| The Senate now has a companion bill to a House measure that would scrap the current CLIA cytology proficiency testing program and institute a continuing medical education testing alternative for pathologists and others who screen for cervical cancer.
Full Article |
| Medicare Releases Lab Fee Schedule for 2008: What the Payment Policies Mean for Your Lab |
| In the final 2008 Medicare lab fee schedule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency not only announced crosswalk pay rates for new CPT codes on the Part B schedule, but also reminded providers that payment rates remain in the deep freeze, in accord with the congressionally mandated freeze that ends December 31 of this year.
Full Article |
| FDA Okays First Rapid Blood Test for Drug-Resistant Staph |
| The Food & Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections such as blood stream infections, surgical site infections, or pneumonia.
Full Article |
| CMS to Delay Anti-Markup Rules for Certain Diagnostic Tests |
| The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has delayed until January 1, 2009, the applicability of anti-markup provisions under the Stark physician self-referral rules to certain services in certain locations. It does not apply to (1) anatomic pathology not performed in the "same building" in which a group practice generally furnishes services (as defined in the Stark rules) and (2) the technical component of any purchased diagnostic test.
Full Article |
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