CMS to reprice COVID-19 testing and an interesting twist on it
Vasyl Kapitan
Marketing Director & Strategist | Specializing in SEM, SEO & Effective Digital Campaigns
Soon, U.S. laboratories that fail to process coronavirus diagnostic tests within 2 calendar days of collection will be penalized with smaller reimbursement payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Starting on January 1, 2021, the base payment rate for a COVID-19 diagnostic test will drop to $75, and a $25 add-on payment will be made to laboratories that are able to complete the test in two calendar days or less.
“Today’s announcement supports faster high throughput testing, which will allow patients and physicians to act quickly and decisively with respect to treatment decisions, physical isolation, and contact tracing,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
In an interesting twist, while the CMS payment will apply only to Medicare payments, the payment of $25 will be given for Medicare patients IF the lab had two day turnaround time on "THE MAJORITY OF ALL" of its COVID testing in the previous month.
Read the full announcement from CMS here: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-changes-medicare-payment-support-faster-covid-19-diagnostic-testing
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