CMS Final Fee Schedule Will Impact Patient Access to Laboratories: COLA

The CMS Final Fee Schedule will hurt patient access to clinical laboratories, says the lab accreditation bureau COLA.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its final rates for the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) that will phase-in a significant cut in the rates of those common tests physicians use every day to diagnose and treat patients. The first cut is 10% effective Jan. 1, 2018.

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014 directed CMS to gather data from labs on what private payers reimburse for clinical laboratory testing. CMS used this payment data to establish what Medicare will pay for lab tests. Unfortunately, due to significant data integrity concerns, COLA urged CMS to validate the data collected before proceeding to finalize new payment rates.

“I am deeply worried about the impact of these rate cuts on the elderly access to lab testing in rural communities,” Dr. John Daly, Chief Medical Officer of COLA, said. “There is no question in my mind that access to timely laboratory information will decline and residents living in rural communities will suffer the most in terms of delays in diagnosis and misdiagnosis. I can only hope we will find a way to change the course of this decision.”

COLA will continue to raise awareness and highlight the importance of near patient laboratory testing to early diagnosis and chronic disease management. To see all of COLA’s findings visit www.NearPatientTestingMatters.org.