
CMS Announces End to Pathology ‘Grandfather’ Protection
November 22, 2010CMS has announced that after Dec. 31, 2010 it will bar an independent laboratory from billing Medicare for the technical component (TC) of physician pathology services furnished to a hospital inpatient or outpatient. The new policy would end the current pathology “grandfather” protection that allows an independent lab to bill Medicare directly for the TC. CMS has long advocated elimination of these billings, contending that the TC is reimbursed through the hospital’s prospective payment and the lab should seek payment for the service from the hospital, not Medicare Part B. Source: G-2 National Intelligence Report Vol. 10, lss.20, November 4, 2010