Verma says CMS is working to fix inappropriate lab test billing

Modern Healthcare: CMS Administrator Seema Verma told Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) the agency is scrutinizing lab test bills submitted to Medicare to make sure the government hasn't been overpaying laboratories because of inappropriate coding.

In a letter to Grassley, Verma noted that Medicare is required to pay a separate amount for each clinical diagnostic test under law. That rate has to be equal to the "weighted median of the private payer rates" for each test, based on the data reported by the labs that administer to the test.

Read article