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Quest Diagnostics asks Ohio Senate to raise Medicaid lab rates, citing cutbacks after last budget
Summary
Quest Diagnostics told the Senate Medicaid Committee that Ohio's Medicaid clinical-lab reimbursement rates remain at 75% of Medicare for most tests despite budget language promising increases, and urged lawmakers to raise rates to 80% and update rates more regularly.
Representatives of the lab industry urged the Ohio Senate Medicaid Committee to increase Medicaid reimbursement for clinical laboratory tests from the current 75% of Medicare to 80%, arguing that rates have fallen well behind the cost of providing testing.
"Clinical lab rates have been held at 75 percent of Medicare or lower for far too long," said Vivek Bhat, president of Quest Diagnostics' Great Midwest region. He told senators that, despite intent in the previous budget (House Bill 33) to increase rates, Medicare did not broadly increase lab rates and Quest said the state did not implement promised increases for most codes.
Bhat requested a statutory or budget remedy to raise lab rates to 80% of Medicare and to update payment methodologies to reflect regular CPT and reimbursement changes. He contrasted Ohio with neighboring states and national examples: he said Indiana and Kentucky reimburse a higher share of Medicare, while Michigan and West Virginia are at 90% and Pennsylvania's rates approach 97% depending on CPT code.
Quest said labs performed more than 2.17 million tests in Ohio in 2024 and argued that lab reimbursement underpins early diagnosis, chronic-condition management and preventive care. The company asked senators to act in the current budget cycle because continuing low rates would erode capacity and access to diagnostic testing.
Senators had no further questions and the committee proceeded to other witnesses.
