June 30, 2005

Diagnostic Laboratory Services, Inc. (DLS) is committed to providing high quality laboratory services to you and your patients. As part of this commitment, DLS adopted a Corporate Compliance Plan based upon the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) "Model Compliance Plan for Clinical Laboratories" (March 1997) and "Compliance Program Guidance for Clinical Laboratories" (August 1998).

A component of this Plan is a "Notices to Physicians" which discloses DLS' Reflex Testing policy to ensure that you understand when reflex tests will be performed and how they will be billed to Medicare and Medicaid. In many cases and especially in microbiology and blood bank procedures, the tests listed outline reflexes that have been accepted as standard-of-care by the medical community. In other cases, the reflex tests can be ordered individually on the requisition form without the reflex option.

Whenever you order an initial test subject to a reflex test, you must consider whether the reflex test is, in your judgement, medically necessary for that particular patient. If you consider the reflex test unnecessary, order the initial test without the reflex test on the requisition form. Please be advised that the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services takes the position that a physician who orders medically unnecessary tests for which Medicare reimbursement is claimed may be subject to civil penalties.

This information is presented not only to fulfill the above Compliance issues, but also to assist you and contribute to good laboratory ordering and testing practices.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your DLS Marketing Representative or myself at 589-5125.

Skip Keane, MT (ASCP)

Vice President - Compliance and Government Affairs 

• DLS General Laboratory and Coagulation Reflex Testing - 2005| more |
• DLS Microbiology Reflex Tests - 2005 | more |