Laboratory Question for the Week of November 14, 2022

Question:

What is the Saving Access to Laboratory Service Act?

Answer:

The Saving Access to Laboratory Service Act was put forward early this summer in June by senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Richard Burr (R-NC), along with Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Scott Peters (D-CA), Richard Hudson (R-NC), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), and Kurt Schrader (D-OR). The act would break down the data reporting for PAMA and offer a simplified process. Policies within the act guide the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to gather data from a statistical sampling of not just a few types of labs but all significant types of labs including hospital, independent, and physician office laboratories. The ACLA praised the potential policy, stating “Targeted sampling, as designed by the Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act, is a straightforward solution to collecting representative private market data to achieve accurate and sustainable Medicare rates for laboratory services. In the long-term, sustainability for lab reimbursement will support strong clinical laboratory infrastructure to protect public health and innovation in tomorrow’s diagnostics while providing robust access to improve patient health.”

This question was answered in an edition of our Laboratory Compliance Manager. For more hot topics relating to laboratory services, please visit our store or call us at 1.800.252.1578, ext. 2.