While LabCorp (Burlington, N.C.) grew its revenue to $1.1 billion for the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 10.5% compared to the first quarter of 2007, the company saw an increase in bad debt expense and days sales outstanding (DSO). For the first quarter, bad debt was 5%, an increase from 2007’s rate of 4.8%. DSO are up slightly to 58, compared to last year’s average of 56. DSO is typically higher at the beginning of the year when deductibles reset, but the economy is also partly to blame for a drop in patient payments, said Brad Hayes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. To improve these benchmarks, the company is initiating efforts to collect payment information at time of service, such as at patient service centers. Patient payments contribute approximately 15% to total revenues. In terms of related Q1 data, testing volumes—measured by accessions—increased by 8.6% and pricing increased by 1.9% compared to Q1 2007. However, much of the volume growth was due to the company’s Ontario joint venture and LabCorp (Burlington, N.C.) CEO David King did say that organic volume growth was lower than expected at 1.6%. In terms of pricing, LabCorp leaders said that pricing was positively impacted by the annualization of pricing reductions in place last year. In addition, pricing is expected to continue grow, when a pricing escalator for the United Healthcare contract is scheduled to kick in later this year. For more analysis on the Q1 earnings of LabCorp and other publicly traded labs, please read the June issue of Laboratory Industry Report.