Joyce Gresko presented this webinar on behalf of G2 Intelligence. The webinar covered Section 216 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA), passed in 2015, overhauling the way that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) establishes rates on the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. PAMA resulted in year-over-year reductions in reimbursement for many commonly-performed laboratory tests and imposed burdensome data reporting obligations on laboratories. Since its passage, laboratories and other stakeholders have advocated for improvements to the law in the courts, before CMS, and in Congress. The Saving Access to Laboratory Services Act, or “SALSA,” under consideration by Congress now, would mitigate the impact of rate cuts, significantly decrease the reporting burden on laboratories, and realize the promise of a laboratory fee schedule that is truly market-based.
This session focused on what laboratories need to know about:
- PAMA’s promise, provisions, and problems
- Actions that Congress, CMS, and the courts have taken in the years since PAMA was implemented
- How SALSA would change and improve PAMA
- Prospects for passage of SALSA in Congress
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