We all know that there has been a minor slip in net revenue per test for clinical laboratories over the last couple of years. This is nothing new—it is consistent with a story of declining reimbursements in healthcare.Under the proposed Protecting Access to Medicare Actof 2014 (PAMA) rule, hospital laboratory reimbursement for outpatients and outreach could be reduced by 42 percent in 2017. What is new is that under the proposed Protecting Access to Medicare Actof 2014 (PAMA) rule, hospital laboratory reimbursement for outpatients and outreach could be reduced by 42 percent in 2017.
At $19.79 per test on average based on our Fourteenth Comprehensive Laboratory Outreach Survey, hospitals are paid 36 percent more than Quest and LabCorp at $14.65 and $14.52, respectively. Many know that hospitals are currently reimbursed on a different, higher fee schedule than independent laboratories based on the assumption that hospitals have a higher cost of operations. Continue reading