FY 2007 Budget In Brief

Lab competitive bidding: The Bush administration proposes to introduce market competition into the purchase of laboratory services used to diagnose Medicare beneficiaries in its FY 2007 budget request, released Feb. 6. The measure is expected to save $1.4 bil. by 2011. American Clinical Laboratory Association President Alan Mertz contends that the proposal is premature, as there is no data on which to base expectations of savings, given that the demonstration project for the program, as mandated under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, has yet to get off the ground (1"The Gray Sheet" Dec. 5, 2005, p. 13). According to Mertz, two "metropolitan statistical areas" for the demonstration project likely will be announced this month with the demo slated to begin in early 2007. The project is scheduled to last for three years...