Articles and Blogs

Under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (“PAMA”), certain laboratories must report private payor data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”). This data is in turn used by CMS to establish a single, national Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. For a more detailed discussion on PAMA and the types of laboratories that... READ MORE

In 2014, Congress enacted the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (“PAMA”), changing the landscape of Medicare reimbursement for lab services. PAMA required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) to establish a single, national Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (“CLFS”) based on current charges in the private health care market. Below, we provide background... READ MORE

In late July 2019, CMS issued claims processing requirements for the educational and operations testing period for appropriate use criteria (“AUC”) related claims for advanced diagnostic imaging. Advanced imaging includes CT, PET, nuclear medicine, and MRI. The testing period begins January 1, 2020. The CMS Program Transmittal can be found here. Background The Protecting... READ MORE

In November 2018, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released a report (“Report”) on new laboratory payment rates established by CMS under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (“PAMA”). In the Report, the GAO analyzed Medicare claims data to assess how CMS’s implementation of these new rates will impact Medicare expenditures and recommended CMS take... READ MORE

January 1, 2019 marked the start of a new data collection period for laboratories pursuant to the Medicare Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Tests Payment System Final Rule (“CLFS Rule”).¹ The CLFS Rule establishes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’s (“CMS’s”) new private payor-based rate-setting system for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests (“CDLTs”) paid under the... READ MORE