Entering a new chapter with a new leader, ACLA lends support to a draft bill that would regulate lab tests not as medical devices but as in vitro clinical tests.
The agency said it is giving labs 60 additional days to report private payor rates but is still expecting to launch the new clinical lab fee schedule in 2018.
ACLA said the goal of the delay is to redefine "applicable laboratories" and give labs and CMS more time to collect data that will inform market-based pricing.
Mertz outlined the lab industry group's policy positions after FDA's decision to delay final guidance on regulation of lab tests and upcoming implementation of a payment law.
CMS gave labs an additional year to gear up for the implementation of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 and clarified key programmatic definitions.
