Budget
Delay Will Impact Medi-Cal Lab Payments
As
the budget deadlock continues in Sacramento, there will be an impact on
Medi-Cal payments to clinical laboratories. Each year that the budget is
delayed, the state will draw down on the $2B health care deposit fund that is
used to pay some providers when there is no budget for the fiscal year beginning
July 1st. We expect that beginning today, August 23rd,
this fund will be exhausted and payments will cease for clinical labs among
some other provider types. This will not impact payments to pathologists in
hospitals or those with a physician medical group provider number. You should
continue to submit claims which will be processed, but simply not paid until a
budget is achieved.
CSP
Seeking Nominations for the Board of Directors
If
you have an interest in serving on the CSP Board of Directors, we encourage you
to contact us in the next two weeks. The Board meets four times per year with
all but one of those being for a ½ day session. If interested, please contact
the CSP Executive Director, Bob Achermann at bachermann@amgroup.us. Elections will
be held at the December Annual Meeting.
Laboratory
Field Services Releases Regulation Package on Personnel Licensing
Last
year LFS previewed a set of proposed changes to the clinical lab personnel
standards. You can find the statement of reasons and full text of the package
by going to www.cdph.ca.gov then
clicking on Decisions Pending and Opportunity
for Public Participation, then Proposed Regulations. For the direct link, click here.
Many
of these changes are long overdue and needed to address the evolution of genetic
molecular testing, the standards for multiple types of examinations, and the
scope of testing for cytotechnologists, among many more.
Public
comment is open until September 27, 2010 and comments can be submitted
electronically. The CSP will be reviewing the regulations and submitting
comments in September.
Mark Your Calendar
California Society of Pathologists
63rd Annual Convention
"Seminars in Pathology"
December 1 - 4, 2010
Hyatt San Francisco in Embarcadero Center
5 Embarcadero Center
San Francisco, CA 94111
Click here to view the conference brochure.
Register Now - Click Here
Click here for the exhibitor brochure.
