Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague and commend his work and the work of his staff in the development of this proposal. Reform of the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule is an important priority. The current system does not allow for changes in reimbursement for specific tests and instead, cuts to lab reimbursement have been broad reductions to the fee schedule overall. This imprecise approach has hampered the ability of labs across the country to continue to innovate and improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act reforms this outdated approach and establishes a system requiring laboratories to report market rates to establish Medicare reimbursement. It is my understanding that the intent of this provision is to ensure that Medicare rates reflect true market rates for laboratory services, and as such, that all sectors of the laboratory market should be represented in the reporting system, including independent laboratories and hospital outreach laboratories that receive payment on a fee-for-service basis under the fee schedule. I ask my distinguished colleague if this is his understanding of the intent of this provision as well.”