PAMA 2019 Fee Schedule Changes are Insufficient, Lab Groups Say
December 4, 2018The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed changes to its data collection methods in its 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule, released online on Thursday. But while the new data collection criteria are expected to increase the number of hospital outreach laboratories required to report data for the establishment of market-based pricing, lab groups say the data collection process needs further modifications. Specifically, the new rule changes lab pricing data collection by using the CMS-1450 14X type of bill to identify Medicare revenues from hospital outreach labs. This rule is expected to increase the reporting of lab test prices by hospital outreach labs.