Remember the Maryland General laboratory scandal of two years ago? Part of the outcome of the media circus and the Congressional Hearings on Maryland General was a request by Congress for an investigation of CMS by the GAO (Government Accountability Office). The GAO was asked to examine (1) the quality of lab testing; (2) the effectiveness of surveys, complaint investigations, and enforcement actions in detecting and addressing lab problems; and (3) the adequacy of CMS's CLIA oversight.
Well, that report is finally out - and it's not kind to CMS.
The titles say it all:
- Testimony to Congress: CMS and Survey Organization Oversight Is Not Sufficient to Ensure Lab Quality
- Full Report: CMS and Survey Organization Oversight Should Be Strengthened
Westgard Web will provide some detailed analysis of the reports (both what is in the reports and what got left out) in the coming days, but the first thing we want to do is encourage you to read the reports directly. Go straight to the source and see what they found, and see if their conclusions match your own. In July, we'll tell you what we think of the reports - and you can judge us as well.
Let me pull a few highlights just from the one page summary:
- "Because of limited comparable data from CMS and survey organizations, too little is known about the quality of lab testing."
- "....GAO’s analysis of an indicator that measures a lab's ability to consistently produce accurate test results suggests that lab quality may not have improved at hospital labs in recent years."
- "....real and potential lab quality problems are masked by survey, complaint, and enforcement weaknesses."
- "....other factors suggest that surveys and complaints do not present a realistic picture of lab quality."
In other words, we still don't know what we don't know. You haven't heard that before, have you?
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