Starting in 2018, Medicare reimbursement for most high-volume and many other laboratory tests are seeing reductions of up to 10 percent for each of the next three years, followed by up to 15 percent for each of the next three years as required by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA). All clinical labs in the U.S. — from the largest national reference labs to hospital outreach labs to physician office labs will be impacted by these substantial cuts. Moreover, reduced Medicare payments will also result in lower payments to state Medicaid programs and have a ripple effect to commercial payers which will move to adjust its rates downward as part of future contract terms. This webinar will discuss how the lab payment cuts imposed by PAMA is shifting the competitive landscape for the U.S. laboratory industry. Specifically, the program will cover how the fallout from PAMA is altering the competitive dynamics between national and hospital outreach labs as well as providing a financial advantage to certain specialty labs offering proprietary tests and other labs performing advanced diagnostic laboratory tests (ADLTs). Meantime, the very survival of small community labs along with some regional labs that serve niche markets, such as nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities and home bound patients is at stake. That’s because it's these labs that are being hit the hardest by PAMA since they mostly perform a limited number of high-volume tests which are suffering the biggest cuts under the new Medicare market-based payment system. Finally, the webinar will discuss how the competitive reset will impact the trend toward industry consolidation.

Prepare your organization now for the changing competitive landscape surrounding the clinical laboratory industry. Understand how the current market reset is directly impacting major lab segments plus find out what they must do to remain viable. Specifically, learn why labs in different practice settings will be forced to assess their strategic options to reorganize, restructure, merge, consolidate or sell altogether. Find out why hospital outreach labs may have to reprice their testing services to remain competitive with independent labs. Learn why Medicare’s market based payment system is having a ripple effect on commercial rates. Discover why labs offering differing testing services can have either a competitive edge or be at a disadvantage because of Medicare payment policies in today’s volatile market. Finally, gain new insights into what strategies labs will have to consider to remain competitive and how the shifting market dynamics will impact industry consolidation trends.