News on issues related to managing clinical laboratories.
Issued this week, the proposed fee schedule would cut overall pathology service payments by 9 percent compared to 2020 and independent lab services by 5 percent.
Lab firms are acquiring equipment and implementing approaches like pooled testing, but it remains unclear if this will be enough to meet a fall surge.
The company said the method will boost SARS-CoV-2 test capacity by 35,000 tests per day and bring turnaround times to one day for priority patients.
The agency has provided new guidance for tests that can be used outside of a lab setting, as well as updated its guidance on a number of other topics.
The inability to get COVID-19 test kits and the reagents to run the tests was especially problematic as 58 percent of labs cited such an issue.
