Billing News Apr 2023
UnitedHealthcare to Cut 20% of Prior Authorizations and Introduce New Gold Card Program
UnitedHealthcare has announced plans to eliminate 20% of its current prior authorizations and implement a national Gold Card Program. The prior authorization code reductions will begin in the third quarter for most Commercial, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans. In 2024, UnitedHealthcare will launch the National Gold Card Program for care...
Massive Bio, NeoGenomics Collaborate on AI-Driven Oncology Clinical Trial Matching
Under the partnership, NeoGenomics, a Fort Myers, Florida-based cancer genetic testing and contract research organization, will screen and identify patients with biomarkers that might qualify them for clinical trials. New York-based Massive Bio will then assist treating physicians with obtaining patient consent and additional testing to support...
Iowa is About to Have a Data Privacy Law
Three years after this blog first covered Iowa’s efforts to pass a data privacy bill, Iowa is poised to be the sixth state in the country to adopt a data privacy statute. Iowa will join California, Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia with a law governing collection and retention of consumer data from individual Iowans....
COVID-19 national emergency could end sooner than May
The Senate passed a resolution March 29 that would expedite the end of the COVID-19 national emergency from its planned May 11 deadline to immediately upon the signature of the president, and President Joe Biden has reportedly indicated he will sign it. The COVID-19 national and public health emergencies, enacted in March 2020, are...
Texas District Court Nullifies Portions of Preventive Care Mandate
In a closely watched case challenging the constitutionality of the ACA’s requirement for health plans to cover certain preventive care on a first dollar basis, a Texas district court held that the requirement violates the Constitution. While the order is only two pages, Judge Reed stated that the “U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s (PSTF)...
FDA Resumes Move to Regulate LDTs, Likely Setting up Legal Battle With Lab Industry
The US Food and Drug Administration is moving to regulate laboratory-developed tests (LDTs), setting up a potential legal battle with the lab industry. In remarks at the American Clinical Laboratory Association's annual meeting this month, Elizabeth Hillebrenner, associate director at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said the...
This Week at FDA: FDA draws roadmap for pandemic era guidances
In a Federal Register notice on Friday, FDA laid out its plans to sunset, phase out, or transition the 72 guidances it issued under the PHE declaration, which is set to expire on 11 May 2023. The guidances span all of FDA’s product centers, except for the Center for Tobacco Products, and cover topics including the agency’s...
Screen All Adults for Hepatitis B, CDC Says
All adults should be tested for a hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection at least once in their lifetime, and a wider range should get periodic retesting, according to new CDC recommendations. The report recommended moving from a risk-based approach to a universal approach in order to increase awareness of infection and reduce chronic disease and...
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