Labs that take longer than two days to deliver COVID-19 test results will see pay cuts on Jan. 1.

This is under a new policy that would apply $25 payments cuts to those labs that take longer than two days to show COVID-19 tests results.

The agency overseeing Medicare will pat labs $100 per COVID-19 tests completed on a high-volume machine within two days of collecting a specimen.

Labs that take longer will get only $75 per test next year based on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as reported by the USA Today.

Large labs took one week or longer to process COVID-19 tests.

The delay deemed contract tracing of infected individuals useless.

A senior scholar at Stanford University's Clinical Excellence Research Center, Dr. Nirah Shah, said the payment change may prompt labs to improve turnaround time of COVID-19 tests.

Sha said the incentives are now aligned to improve turnaround time and not to maximize volume of tests.

"For public health, any test that's delayed more than one (or) two days is useless for contact tracing," Sha was quoted in a report.

Meanwhile, industry experts said that payment cuts will not solve any underlying challenges that labas have.

The American Clinical Laboratory Association said that labs have taken steps to increase the volume it can hold and improve turnaround times.

ACLA President Julie Khani said that theya re concerned that this policy could create a domino effect where patient access to testing is massively reduced/.

"Cutting laboratory reimbursement won't address the root causes of delayed turnaround times," Khani was quoted in a report.

Dr. Patrick Godbey, president of the College of American Pathologists, said that labs still cannot get the chemicals they need to run the tests.

He added that shortages of chemical reagents and plastic equipment means his hospital must send some samples to third-party labs.

Godbey said that if they cannot get the reagents, they cannot get the consumables, adding that it is not a good idea to penalize labs for doing the best job they can.

He added that the lab themselves do not control the supply chain and they are going to be penalized for that.

Pandemic COVID-19 Testing

Medicare offered in mid-April a $100 for each "high-throughput" test.

The payment increase was meant as an incentive to get labs to use machines that can quickly process a high volume of tests.

Testing demand has wobbled throughout the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially showed flawed tests to state and local public health labs.

Federal regulators were slow to authorize commercial labs to fill the nation's testing void.

The New Policy

Medicare will pay $75 for each test on a high-throughput machine.

Labs that complete tests within two days will get a $25 per-test bonus.

However, only labs with two-day turnarounds for a majority of COVID-19 tests performed are eligible for the bonus.

CMS Administrator Seema Verma said this will allow patients and physicians to act quickly and decisively with respect to treatment decisions, physical isolation, and contact tracing.

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