CLS News Blog

Dark Daily is reporting that federal attorneys have agreed to destroy the clinical pathology laboratory bid documents that had been submitted as part of the Medicare Part B Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) attempted to implement in 2008.

This appears to be the final chapter in this ill-conceived project. Hopefully we won’t see this rear its ugly head again.

Read more here in the original article…

The June 2010 edition of AACC’s Clinical Laboratory News has a very good article on the impact of the Healthcare Reform bill recently passed by Congress and its resultant effect on the Clinical Laboratory industry.

The Senate is considering a 20% Copay for laboratory services that would shift the cost of laboratory testing to seniors and add additional operating costs to laboratories.

The Clinical Laboratory Coalition, of which ASCLS is a member, has written the Senate Finance Committee after learning a 20% Medicare laboratory co-pay was being proposed by the Senate Finance Committee.  They told the Committee Chair that: the co-pay financially burdens beneficiaries, laboratories, hospitals and clinics and will not accomplish any change in utilization because laboratory services are ordered by physicians and other health care providers, not initiated by patients.  The result of this proposed policy is a not a cost savings to our health care system, but rather, a staggering new $20 billion cost shift to seniors and additional operating costs for laboratories, clinics and hospitals.

ASCLS and other clinical laboratory professional organizations are encouraging their members to contact their senators to let them know that this is a bad idea. For more information and to send an electronic message to you senators you can go the ASCLS Advocacy site.

On Tuesday, as expected, President Bush vetoed the Medicare Bill (H.R. 6331) which was passed by the Senate last week by a margin of 69-30. The bill originated in the House and passed there by an overwhelming 355-59 majority.

Just hours after Bush vetoed the legislation, the Senate voted 70-26 to overturn him, following the House of Representatives, which voted 383-41 to override. The bill now becomes law.

See how your Senators and Representatives voted.

Senate

House

Although mostly seen as a big win for physicians, since the bill prevents a 10.6 drop in Medicare reimbursement, this also means that the Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project, which was scheduled to begin earlier this year, and has been on hold since a ruling by a judge this spring, will now be halted. Unknown at this time is what will happen with the sealed bids that CMS had obtained as part of the requried bidding process.

Related articles:

Congress Overrides Bush’s Veto on Medicare – The New York Times

Congress overrides Bush’s Medicare veto – Reuters

In a July 11th article The Hill’s Manu Raju is reporting that even if President Bush vetoes the Medicare bill that the veto is likely to be overridden. Mr. Raju writes:

“President Bush is expected to lose a hard-fought battle with Congress over Medicare legislation as nine key Senate Republicans say they intend to vote to override his veto.

Eight of the GOP senators say they will stand by decisions to switch votes from no to yes when the bill came up this past week. Another senator who voted against the bill says he plans to support the override when the bill comes back after being rejected by Bush.”

This is great news for laboratories as the language to repeal the competitive bidding demonstration project is included in the bill.

Read the entire article here.

Also from The Hill:

Medicare bill nearly law but lobbies stay focused

The White House has confirmed that President Bush is still planning on vetoing the Medicare Bill (H.R. 6331) passed by the Senate yesterday. Although the bill passed in both the House and Senate by more than a 2/3 majority, the Bush Administration is still opposed to the bill.

If President Bush does veto the bill, both the House and Senate believe they have the necessary votes to override the veto.

Read more…

• The Hill
• Lloyd’s

(Updated 4:45 pm MDT) This afternoon the U.S. Senate passed comprehensive Medicare legislation (H.R. 6331) by virtue of a cloture vote 69 to 30. In a surprise appearance, Senator Edward Kennedy returned to the Senatte floor to vote on this measure Senator Kennedy’s surprise appearance and vote made the difference.

The bill is a Medicare package designed to address a scheduled decrease in physician payment rates, as well as other matters. If signed into law by the president, this bill would also repeal the Medicare Competitive Bidding Demonstration Program for Clinical Laboratory Services.

The legislation now goes to the President for either his signature or veto. The Bush Administration has previously threatened to veto the Senate-passed bill, due to its opposition to certain provisions cutting funding for the Medicare Advantage program. If the President vetoes the bill, a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate would be required to override it.

With the 69-30 vote in the Senate, and the 355-59 vote in the House, it would appear that the bill would have the necessary 2/3 majority to override a presidential veto.

Read more…

• New York Times
• Yahoo News
• Reuters

The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the Senate will hold another cloture vote on the House-passed Medicare bill (HR 6331) on Tuesday or Wednesday.

A prior attempt at a cloture vote held on June 26th failed by only one vote. Voting at that time was largely along party lines. Democrats are hoping that an ad campaign by the American Medical Association (AMA) during the 4th of July recess will have put enough pressure on some Republicans to get them to change their votes.

As mentioned previously, HR 6331 passed by an overwhelming majority in the House on June 24th, by a vote of 355-59. At that time, although Senators Baucus and Grassley were reported to be coming to agreement on a compromise between their two Senate versions of a Medicare bill, Mr. Reid decided to proceed with a cloture vote on the House version due to it passing by such a surprising majority.

In a reprieve to physicians the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will freeze Medicare payment reimbursement for physicians at the current rate for up to ten days to allow Congress additional time to come to agreement on a new Medicare pricing bill. Had HHS not stepped in doctors would be seeing a 10.6% reduction in payments effective July 1st.

Full article is available online at the Washington Post (among others).

The US Senate has defeated a cloture motion to move forward with the Medicare Bill, HR 6331 – Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, by a vote of 58 – 40. At least 60 “yes” votes were required to move the bill forward.

The failure to pass this bill means that a fix will not be in place to prevent the 10.6% decrease in Medicare payments scheduled to go into effect next month. In addition, the repeal of competitive bidding, which was included in the bill, will also not go into effect.

At this point the bill will be withdrawn from the floor and will be revisited after the 4th of July recess.