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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 22, 2010 (Full PDF Issue) |
| Medicare extenders bill is hoped-for vehicle to revive pathology ‘grandfather’ protection
Fate of lab date of service policy change is up in the air
Synching CLIA rules with current stage of electronic health records: see Focus on Health Information Technology
— CLIA lab universe
— Recap of the rules
— Misperceptions and clarifications
Senate bill clarifies EHR bonuses for hospital- based physicians
Illinois high court upholds pathologist PC billing for lab tests
Upcoming G-2 Events
Full Article |
| Gene Patent Lawsuit at a Crossroads |
| It is now up to a federal court judge to decide whether a landmark lawsuit challenging the patenting of human genes should go to trial, following oral arguments heard on motions for summary judgment in the case earlier this month in New York City.
Full Article |
| Congress Pushes the Envelope on Medicare Physician Fee Fix |
| The House and the Senate reconvened Feb. 22 following a week-long recess to face a March 1 deadline to block a cut of 21 percent in Medicare physician payments, but how and when Congress will tackle a fix is uncertain at press time, leaving providers increasingly on edge.
Full Article |
| Medicare Extenders Bill Is Hoped-For Vehicle to Revive Pathology ‘Grandfather’ Protection |
| Clinical laboratory and pathology groups are looking to a Medicare extenders bill that Congress is expected to take up when it reconvenes Feb. 22 as a vehicle for extension of the “grandfather” protection for certain independent lab billings, which expired Dec. 31, 2009.
Full Article |
| Fate of Lab Date of Service Change in Doubt |
| The pilot project for reimbursing certain complex molecular diagnostic tests, included in the Senate health care reform bill, but not in the House-passed version, is not on the list of items for a Medicare extenders bill that the Senate is expected to consider soon, according to industry sources.
Full Article |
| Focus on: Health Information Technology: CLIA Rules and the Current Stage of E-Health Records |
| With the federal initiative to promote adoption of health information technology (HIT), including electronic health records (EHRs), clinical laboratories face significant challenges in meshing their operations with a host of requirements, including system interoperability with trading partners and with health information exchanges, privacy and security standards, and rules for assuring the accuracy and reliability of patients’ health data.
Full Article |
| Senate Bill Clarifies EHR Bonuses for Hospital-Based Physicians |
| The draft jobs bill released earlier this month by the Senate Finance Committee aims to clarify a provision in last year’s economic stimulus package that had been interpreted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as excluding all hospital-based physicians from being eligible for federal financial incentives to adopt health information technology.
Full Article |
| Illinois High Court Upholds Pathologist PC Billing for Lab Tests |
| The Illinois Supreme Court has denied a petition to review the recent decision of the Appellate Court of the Third Circuit of Illinois to allow professional component billing by pathologists in the Martis v. Pekin Memorial Hospital case.
Full Article |
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