Nonprofit’s Efforts With Payors to Assess NGS Labs’ Variant Interpretations Spark Debate

Labs will push back, industry insiders suspect, if more insurers like Highmark start asking them to meet credentialing requirements for their next-generation sequencing testing services that go beyond what they have to do under current regulations.

Highmark sent letters in August to several in-network labs asking for validation data on their germline and somatic NGS cancer tests beyond what is required for certification under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) or accreditation through the College of American Pathologists (CAP). Since then, there has already been some “light pushback,” acknowledged Matt Fickie, senior medical director at the Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated insurer.

Source: https://www.genomeweb.com/reimbursement-news/nonprofits-efforts-payors-assess-ngs-labs-variant-interpretations-spark-debate#.Y0Q7LHbMKUk