Volume XII October 2019 - Top Stories: 5 CRITICAL MISTAKES New Owners Make When Staffing Their Lab: The clinical laboratory industry is a tough business. If you’ve ever started a lab for the first time, you’ve made mistakes, lots of them. If you had to go back and do it over again, you would do a million things different. Read the full article. CGx - CMS Payment Suspension Letter : The genetic laboratory testing sector was flipped upside down this week as a sea of payment suspension letters hit the mailboxes of molecular labs throughout the Novitas region.

FREE WEBINAR TOMORROW October 16th @1pm EST Combating the Lab Shortage: Pro Tips for Recruitment & Retention In this free webinar, we will go over the causes and implications of the current staffing shortage in the medical laboratory industry.We will discuss the future of the medical lab labor market and provide tips for recruitment and retention that will help your lab win in the war for top laboratory talent. >> CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT <<

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

5 CRITICAL MISTAKES New Owners Make When Staffing Their Lab The clinical laboratory industry is a tough business. If you’ve ever started a lab for the first time, you’ve made mistakes, lots of them. If you had to go back and do it over again, you would do a million things differently. It’s incredibly complex on every level. Technical, legal, compliance, billing, you name it, very little comes intuitively. Everywhere you look there’s a fifty-cent word that you don’t know how to pronounce. Once you think you understand something and make a decision in turns out there were ten more questions you should have asked and now there’s a whole new minefield of decisions to navigate. The same is true when it comes to staffing. Well I can’t provide a solution for every staffing dilemma you will encounter; I want to highlight five critical mistakes that I see new lab owners make on a regular basis. Keep reading about those 5 Critical Mistakes in our Blog Post .

WHAT'S TRENDING?

CGx - CMS Payment Suspension Letter - What does the Novitas letter and Federal Investigation mean for CGx labs?

" 380 individuals charged - Lab owners need to be very careful and ensure they are thoroughly vetting genetic samples that are generated through telemed and call centers."

The genetic laboratory testing sector was flipped upside down this week as a sea of payment suspension letters hit the mailboxes of molecular labs throughout the Novitas region. The letters indicate a new stance by the CMS central office in Dallas to deny payment for labs performing Cancer Genetic Tests (CGx) for patients with a familial history of cancer. This appears to be an attempt to stop the bleeding as genetic labs continue to ring up the bill to Medicare for cancer genetic tests, which reimburse well in an environment in which most lab tests have seen reimbursement cut to the bone. See an excerpt from the letter. The stop payment letters follow a sweeping Federal Lab Enforcement action involving cancer genetic labs and as many as 380 individuals. Read the Department of Justice letter here.  While there are several individuals listed that seem to surface whenever there is a quick buck to be made, the list also includes many labs that have taken a cautious and legally informed approach. The allegations of corruption seem reaching and the announcement seems to be written in an inflammatory tone whose objective is to spook the market to stave off another $2B in CGx Medicare lab bills in the second half of the year.  Lab owners are left wondering if meeting the medical necessity guidelines set forth by Medicare is no longer enough to be considered “medically necessary”. Read the full article here.

Who is Responsible for Your Lab's Compliance? Ensuring a lab’s compliance is a duty that falls solely to the CLIA Laboratory Director of record. Although many lab director responsibilities can be delegated to appropriately trained on-site staff, especially in the case of a part-time lab director, one responsibility that cannot be delegated is regulatory compliance. For the overall health of the lab and its business, it is important to have a lab director who understands compliance and is dedicated to ensuring that the lab is compliant and inspection-ready at all times.  Many lab directors utilize a checklist for on-site visits to evaluate the lab’s compliance on at least a quarterly basis. This ensures there are no surprises when it is time for inspection. Being inspection-ready should be a mindset adopted by every clinical lab, as well as its lab director.  High-quality lab directors with good attention to compliance-specific details are especially important for new labs looking to get started on the right foot. As many new labs discover during the start-up phase, it can be difficult to cover the overhead costs of a lab director prior to initiating testing given that the lab is not generating revenue during this time; to counteract this issue, our lab director program members in the start-up phase typically only pay half the normal rate for lab director services until the lab reaches live testing status. Contact our Lab Director Program Manager to learn more and/or receive a quote for Lab Director Services specific to your facility so that your lab is always inspection-ready and compliant.

LABS FOR SALE

Many lab owners are looking at ways to diversify their offerings. In addition to helping you find necessary technical staff, Lighthouse Lab Services can also provide recommendations on test menus, equipment, software and everything else needed to add CGX/PGX and Infectious Disease testing. Want to know more? Contact our Consulting group. Featured Labs for Sale: Presented by Lighthouse Lab Services Buyer Seller Team

CLIA Certified/COLA Accredited Lab in TX Open to Acquisition or Strategic Opportunity Location: Texas Price: TBD For sale or strategic partnership: Growing 4000 sq ft CLIA certified/COLA accredited lab in TX open to acquisition or strategic opportunity. Read more.

CLIA & COLA High Complexity Lab in Novitas Region Location: Texas Price: $220,000 Capabilities: Blood Chemistry Currently in a 1200 sq ft space set up for blood testing. The lab is in-network with BCBS commercial. Read more.

Well Equipped, Established Toxicology Lab in NV  Location: Nevada Price: TBD 3500 sq ft CLIA certified COLA accredited NV laboratory currently testing for toxicology. The lab is well equipped with 3 Agilent LC/MS instruments, Olympus Chemistry Analyzer, an LIS system, and all ancillary equipment needed for testing. Read more.

In-Network CLIA Lab in IL  Location: Illinois Price: $425,000 Square Footage: 1600 Established in-network CLIA certified lab. The laboratory is built out for routine testing including general chemistry, hematology, and microbiology. Laboratory is credentialed with BCBS and UHC along with several local state MCO’s/HMO’s. Read more.

We had 4 laboratories that sold last month!  If you are interested in hearing more about our seller services, or if your group is actively seeking to acquire a laboratory, please reach out to schedule an initial consultation.  Visit our website for existing laboratory listings and reach out to arrange a call if these listings do not meet your search criteria as many labs are not actively listed. Interested in Buyer Seller Services? Schedule an initial confidential call with our expert.

The Lab Insighter is a quarterly publication for Lab Owners and Decision Makers. Brought to you by:

Contact us at: 800-838-0602 start@lighthouselabservices.com www.lighthouselabservices.com