ASCP Members Flood CMS with Letters Over PFS/CLFS Proposed Rule
ASCP members have rallied to make their voices heard in a concerted campaign to change the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 2014 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) Proposed Rule. More than 2,200 letters made their way to the agency through the ASCP e-Advocacy Center in response to several ASCP action alerts about CMS’s proposed cap on non-facility Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) payment rates. Read more

ASCP Community Unites in Response to CMS Payment Scheme:
10,000 Messages Sent to Congress and CMS
In early July, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule that rocked the pathology and laboratory world. The draft rule proposed to cap payment rates for services on the physician fee schedule at the Outpatient Prospective Payment Rate. Read more

Medicare PFS: A Triple Whammy for Pathologists and Labs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ newly released CY2014 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule outlines several initiatives that could profoundly affect Medicare pathology and laboratory services payment rates. Read more

Medicare Laboratory Fees Under Microscope … Again
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a report claiming Medicare overpays for clinical laboratory services by 18 to 30 percent. The report, Comparing Lab Test Payment Rates: Medicare Could Achieve Substantial Savings, compares Medicare payment for clinical laboratory services to Medicaid and three Federal Employee Health Plans. To address these supposed “overpayments,” the report recommends cutting the clinical laboratory fee schedule (CLFS), imposing co-pays and deductibles on the CLFS, and instituting competitive bidding of clinical laboratory services. Read more