Leading provider organizations call on congress to enact the RESULTS Act
The American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA), with a large group of over 30 leading provider organizations, took action to protect patient access to clinical laboratory services, according to an announcement.
The organizations sent an urgent letter to congress calling them to enact the “bipartisan, bicameral Reforming and Enhancing Sustainable Updates to Laboratory Testing Services (RESULTS) Act (H.R. 5269 / S. 2761) before deep Medicare payment cuts take effect on January 1, 2026.” They spotlighted the importance of clinical laboratory tests to the nation’s healthcare system.
According to ACLA, “The RESULTS Act would protect patient access to laboratory services by:
- Directing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to contract with an independent, not-for-profit commercial claims database with robust private payor claims data across all laboratory segments to determine CLFS rates for widely available tests
- Requiring clinical laboratories to report commercial rate data directly to CMS for non-widely available tests, such as proprietary diagnostics and those for rare diseases
- Extending the rate-setting cycle to every four years, reducing administrative burden on laboratories and CMS
- Establishing guardrails to limit annual payment reductions and prevent destabilizing cuts to CLFS rates
- Excluding artificially low Medicaid managed care payment rates from the data used to set CLFS reimbursement levels”
ACLA President Susan Van Meter emphasized in a press release, “Without Congressional action, Medicare reimbursement cuts of up to 15 percent on about 800 clinical laboratory tests are set to take effect on January 1, 2026. The RESULTS Act provides the permanent, market-based reform needed to prevent destabilizing cuts, reduce administrative burdens, and ensure patients have access to essential laboratory diagnostic services.”