Labs Hopeful for Less Severe Penalties for Referral Mishaps

Medical testing labs are hoping the Medicare agency will ease up on penalties for improperly handled proficiency test samples, health-care attorneys told Bloomberg Law.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants comments by March 12 on updating penalties under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) for when a laboratory refers out proficiency test samples to another lab and reports the other lab’s result as its own. CLIA governs nonresearch clinical lab testing in the U.S. and certifies labs that meet the program’s quality standards. Current penalties are stiff and may include losing a CLIA certificate, as well as prohibiting ...