January 5, 2022
Payers
  • A report from the HHS Office of Inspector General found that roughly 20 percent of the $8 billion Medicare spent on lab tests in 2020 went toward COVID-19 tests. COVID-19 drove up Medicare’s overall spending on tests by 4 percent from 2019 to 2020, but spending on routine lab work for other conditions fell 16 percent as people avoided getting care during the early stages of the pandemic.(Report here; Article here)