GENETIC COUNSELOR’S SCOPE OF PRACTICE: The New Jersey Assembly has unanimously approved a bill to remove genetic counselor’s statutory authority to interpret genetic tests and other diagnostic studies from their scope of practice. Pathology groups have maintained that the clinical interpretation of laboratory tests requires a complete medical assessment of the patient and requisite clinical training that a genetic counselor is not trained to perform. The bill also clarifies that physicians are categorically exempt from the genetic counselor license law. According to the College of American Pathologists (CAP), passage of the bill is the result of a two-year collaboration between the New Jersey Society of Pathologists and CAP to ensure the New Jersey state law conforms to the scope of practice agreement between CAP and the National Society of Genetic Counselors. The measure is now on its way to the governor for his signature. RECORD FRAUD RECOVERY: The federal government’s health fraud enforcement and prevention efforts recovered a record $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2012, the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services said Feb. 11. This compares to recovery of $4.1 billion in FY 2011. In the new announcement, HHS and DOJ also said that over the past […]
GENETIC COUNSELOR’S SCOPE OF PRACTICE: The New Jersey Assembly has unanimously approved a bill to remove genetic counselor’s statutory authority to interpret genetic tests and other diagnostic studies from their scope of practice. Pathology groups have maintained that the clinical interpretation of laboratory tests requires a complete medical assessment of the patient and requisite clinical training that a genetic counselor is not trained to perform. The bill also clarifies that physicians are categorically exempt from the genetic counselor license law. According to the College of American Pathologists (CAP), passage of the bill is the result of a two-year collaboration between the New Jersey Society of Pathologists and CAP to ensure the New Jersey state law conforms to the scope of practice agreement between CAP and the National Society of Genetic Counselors. The measure is now on its way to the governor for his signature.
RECORD FRAUD RECOVERY: The federal government’s health fraud enforcement and prevention efforts recovered a record $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2012, the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services said Feb. 11. This compares to recovery of $4.1 billion in FY 2011. In the new announcement, HHS and DOJ also said that over the past four years, the Obama administration’s enforcement efforts have recovered $14.9 billion, compared with a $6.7 billion recovery over the prior four-year period. In addition, the departments said that the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) program, which is 16 years old, has returned more than $23 billion to the Medicare trust funds. In FY 2012, DOJ opened 1,131 criminal health care fraud investigations involving 2,148 potential defendants, and a total of 826 defendants were convicted of health fraud-related crimes during the year. In addition, the two departments opened 885 civil investigations in FY 2012. The departments also released a report on HCFAC that said the return-on-investment (ROI) for the program over the past three years (2010-2012) is $7.90 returned for every dollar spent. “This is $2.50 higher than the average ROI for the life of the HCFAC program since 1997,” the report said.
