Congress Overrides President's Veto
Competitive Bidding is Repealed!

Yesterday, as promised, President Bush vetoed the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (HR 6331)." The House, however, voted 383-41 and the Senate voted 70-26, to override the veto.

HR 6331 is now law and the competitive bidding demonstration project for clinical laboratory services is now permanently repealed!

In addition to permanently repealing the competitive bidding demonstration project for clinical laboratory services, HR 6331 also contains a provision that reduces the Consumer Price Index (CPI) payment update for clinical laboratory services by 0.5 percent for the next five years, in exchange for including competitive bidding repeal.

With the passage of HR 6331 starting in 2009, clinical laboratories will receive a partial CPI update for the first time since 2004.

 In addition to eliminating a 10.6 percent cut in payment to physicians, due to take effect on July 1, 2008 and delayed until July 15, 2008, HR 6331 also contains an 18-month extension of the "Grandfather Clause." The Grandfather Clause allows Medicare reimbursement for the technical component (TC) for pathology services provided to a "covered" hospital to continue to be paid to the laboratory providing the service, instead of the hospital. "Covered hospitals" are defined as those having an arrangement with an independent laboratory that was in effect as of July 22, 1999. A six-month extension passed late in 2007 expired on June 30, 2008 and on July 7, 2008; CMS published Transmittal 357, Change Request (CR) 6088 notifying contractors that the Grandfather Clause had expired.

Now that HR 6331 has passed into law, the Grandfather Clause is officially extended for 18 months.

The passage of HR 6331 into law with the repeal of competitive bidding is a landmark victory for the entire clinical laboratory community. Combining our lobbying and grassroots efforts through the Clinical Laboratory Coalition (CLC) was the key to success, and laboratory professional society members played a major role in that success.