Labs Sue Govt. Over Exclusion Of Hospital-Lab Rates From Fee Schedule

Clinical laboratories on Monday (Dec. 11) sued the government over the fee schedule for tests. The American Clinical Laboratory Association said CMS illegally exempted nearly all hospital laboratories from the requirement to report private-payer rates on which the new reimbursements will be based, and that lowers those rates. The group is asking the federal district court to make CMS include more hospital labs in the collection of commercial market pay rates. Medicare pays more for lab tests than commercial payers,...