Diagnostic Testing & Technology Report

After a four-year lobbying campaign, America’s clinical laboratory industry is sleeping a little easier now that the Medicare competitive bidding demonstration project for clinical lab services, slated to launch on July 1 in San Diego, has been repealed. The repeal went into effect on July 15, after Congress overrode the president’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. The move by Congress also enacted major program changes advocated by clinical laboratory and pathology organizations, including a physician fee fix.