CMS Postpones Signature Requirement for Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Test Orders
The final 2011 Medicare physician fee schedule rule requires a physician's or qualified nonphysician practitioner's (NPP) signature on requisitions for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests paid under the clinical laboratory fee schedule effective January 1, 2011. Because some physicians, NPPs, and clinical diagnostic laboratories are not aware of, or do not understand, this policy, CMS has decided to “focus in the first calendar quarter of 2011 on developing educational and outreach materials to educate those affected by this policy.” CMS notes that once this educational campaign “is fully underway, CMS will expect requisitions to be signed.”
