COVID-19 Resources and News
Automatic 2021 MIPS exemptions granted by CMS
Earlier this month, CMS announced individual clinicians required to report Merit-based Incentive Payment System data in the 2021 performance year will be granted an automatic exemption due to the ongoing COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).
HHS withdraws policy for LDTs to bolster Covid test review
The policy directed FDA not to enforce premarket review requirements for LDTs. HHS said this move will help to ensure Covid tests are more reliable.
Laboratory revenue cycle management in a non-post-pandemic world
I heard the phrase “post pandemic” this week and thought to myself, “Are we ever going to be in a post-pandemic state, or has the world changed?” As I have said all along, things seen cannot be unseen. I think we are going to be living in a Covid world going forward.
Waiting for the magic pill of Covid treatment
I like to look at health care like my old computer. There is a software side and a hardware side. The software to me, is the vaccines, drugs and treatments of a disease. The hardware is the tests and diagnostic tools.
2022 Covid-19 coding updates and revisions
The following updates and revisions for Covid-19-related codes became effective Oct. 1, 2021:
Case study: Utilizing the Covid-19 Coverage Assistance Fund
The Covid-19 Coverage Assistance Fund was created to cover the cost of administering the vaccine to patients whose insurance doesn't cover vaccination.
First Provider Relief Fund spending reports due Sept. 30
Health care providers who received distributions from the Health and Human Services Provider Relief Fund between April 1 and June 30, 2020, must submit their first report on use of those funds by Sept. 30, 2021.
Most private payers reinstate cost sharing for Covid hospitalizations
With Covid-19 vaccines now readily available, most private payers have moved to reinstate cost sharing for Covid-19-related hospitalizations and treatments.
As more labs perform Covid variant testing, will payors reimburse?
“This is not the same Covid as last year and there are treatment implications with each variant,” says Dr. William Budd. “The severity of the strain of Covid can vary. It is medically significant to know if your patient has an aggressive variant vs. a less aggressive variant.
As Covid re-emerges, it’s déjà vu all over again
In a recent conversation with one of our southern pathology groups, we are realizing it is May of 2020 again. Their hospital has shut down elective surgeries, they have very little surgical volume (about 15% of the norm) and things do not look good as they have 200 Covid-positive inpatients. In short, it’s back.
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