Coalition for 21st Century Medicine Endorses 'Patient Access to Critical Lab Tests Act'
Posted on: Monday, 30 March 2009, 11:27 CDT
- Legislation Seeks to Ensure Medicare Beneficiaries Have Access to Life-Saving Diagnostic Tests, Encourage Continued Innovation of Personalized Medicine -
Mapping the human genome has enabled revolutionary advances in understanding a wide variety of diseases and ushered in an era where treatments can be tailored to individual patients based on their DNA and the specific molecular character of their disease. Complex diagnostic laboratory tests make such "personalized medicine" possible. By understanding the molecular nature of disease, these new technologies increasingly allow clinicians and patients to pick individualized treatment options, rather than basing treatment choices on broad assessments of what works best for a population.
Current Medicare regulations thwart access to these important tests and discourage innovation by requiring hospitals to act as middlemen in the billing process. Laboratories are required to bill hospitals, and hospitals are required to bill Medicare. An access problem arises because hospitals are reluctant to assume the financial risk that the laboratory service will be covered and reimbursed by Medicare. The Patient Access to Critical Lab Tests Act would permit independent laboratories that develop and perform certain qualifying genetic, genomic or proteomic tests and cancer chemosensitivity assays to bill Medicare directly.
The Coalition for 21st Century Medicine applauds these Representatives for pursuing solutions to break down the barriers that block patients from receiving timely access to these important diagnostic tests.
About the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine
The Coalition for 21st Century Medicine represents some of the world's most innovative diagnostic technology companies, clinical laboratories, researchers, physicians, venture capitalists and patient advocacy groups - all linked by a common mission to develop advanced diagnostics that improve the quality of healthcare for patients. For more information about the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine please visit http://www.twentyfirstcenturymedicine.org.
SOURCE The Coalition for 21st Century Medicine
Source: PR Newswire
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