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Witnesses urge Congress to pass Results Act to avert Medicare lab cuts
Summary
Clinical laboratory leaders told the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee that outdated data under PAMA threatens steep Medicare cuts to routine tests on Jan. 31 and urged the Results Act to provide representative private‑payer data, guardrails against deep reductions and relief from reporting burdens.
Susan Van Meter, president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that Medicare’s clinical laboratory fee schedule is based on incomplete, outdated data and risks sharp cuts to routine testing if Congress does not act.
“We are now 23 days away from Medicare cuts to about 800 tests of as much as 15% hitting laboratories across the country,” Van Meter said in opening testimony, warning that reductions will fall disproportionately on tests smaller, rural labs rely upon. She said PAMA’s data-collection process undercuts accuracy because fewer than 1% of laboratories reported private‑payer data the last time CMS collected information.
The…
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