CLS News Blog

Lab Tests Online has announced that it was among this year’s recipients of the 2008 Communicators Awards, which were announced earlier this spring by the International Academy of the Visual Arts.

Lab Tests Online is a noncommercial, peer-reviewed patient resource on medical laboratory testing developed by the laboratory community and produced by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.

The online press release can be found here.

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 Joint Commission has published a 2009 update to their National Patient Safety Goals.

“The Goals include improvements emanating from the Standards Improvement Initiative, including the new numbering system and minor language changes for consistency. The new numbering format was designed to enable sorting electronically (for the new E-ditions of the manuals) and to accommodate the addition of new requirements. Under the new numbering system, each requirement is assigned a six-digit number that designates its place in the chapter.”

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At this point the bill will be withdrawn from the floor and will be revisited after the 4th of July recess.

Discussion of HR 6331, the House version of the Medicare pay “fix,” is on the agenda for the Senate today. It’s reported that Senator Reid will not let the Senate go to recess until a Medicare bill is in place.

In addition, CongressDaily is reporting that Senator Baucus is throwing his support behind the House bill.

“Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus Wednesday threw his support behind the House-passed version of Medicare legislation despite a compromise he was working on with ranking member Charles Grassley, further sealing the deal on Senate consideration of only the House measure.”

There are some reports today indicating that due to the passage of the House version of the Medicare bill (HR 6331) by an overwhelming majority yesterday that Senator Reid has agreed to take up the House version without waiting for the bipartisan version reportedly worked out by Senators Grassley and Baucus.

More information on this as it becomes available.

CongressDaily reported late yesterday that Senators Baucus and Grassley have reached a tentative, bipartisan agreement on Medicare legislation. No word at this point as to whether this agreement includes the Repeal to Competitive bidding.

“With just a few days to go before Congress goes home and physicians are hit with a Medicare pay cut, Senate Finance Committee leaders reached a tentative bipartisan deal on Medicare legislation and are awaiting CBO scores, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said today. The news coincided with House passage of a version of Baucus’ original Medicare bill with a veto-proof majority, 355-59, despite expectations that Democrats would not get the two-thirds majority needed to pass the bill under suspension of the rules.”

Click here for the full text of the article.

The US House of Representatives today passed HR 6331, the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.” The Medicare bill passed with more than the two-thirds majority required under suspension of the rules, with a vote of 355-59.

The Bush Administration has indicated that they are opposed to the bill in its current format and have threatened to veto. Here is the link to the Administration’s veto threat: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-2/saphr6331-h.pdf (pdf format)

Word is that Senators Baucus and Grassley are close to a deal on a Senate version of a Medicare bill and it is hoped that the Senate bill will be brought up for a vote this week.

Today Mr. Charles Rangel, D-NY, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee submitted the House companion bill to S.3101, introduced on June 6th by Senator Baucus. The House bill, HR 6331, entitled ‘‘Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008,” has a section that addresses Repeal of the Medicare Comptetitive Bidding Demonstration Project for Clinical Laboratory Services.

The entire bill is available, in pdf format, at the following link:  http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/6631.pdf

HR 6631 is scheduled to be taken up by the full house on Tuesday, June 24th. ASCLS is asklng its members to contact their congressional representatives by Tuesday to request them to vote in favor of HR 6631, and I have forwarded this information to the ASCLS Region VIII Leadership to ask them to contact their members and colleagues to do the same.

On June 12, 2008 the Bush Administration published its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) regarding Senator Baucus’ Medicare bill, S. 3101. An excerpt follows.

“The Administration strongly opposes S. 3101, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. This legislation unnecessarily expands the Medicare program and irresponsibly imperils the long-term fiscal soundness of Medicare and Medicaid, through which millions of Americans receive their healthcare services. The bill pays for these spending increases, in part, with inappropriate reductions in Medicare Advantage (MA) payments. … Because this legislation fails to address the Administration’s significant concerns, if S. 3101 were presented to the President in its current form, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill. Click on the link below to download the full text of the statement.”

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY on S.3101