At AHA’s urging, UnitedHealthcare delays indefinitely test registry policy

As urged by the AHA, UnitedHealthcare today delayed indefinitely a policy that would have required in-network, freestanding and outpatient laboratory claims to contain a laboratory-specific, unique code for the overwhelming majority of laboratory testing services, in addition to the standard Current Procedural Terminology codes.

If implemented, the policy also would have required laboratories to register each test code with UHC to receive payment for these services.

The AHA last year called on United Healthcare to scrap the new reporting policy saying it “could negatively impact the accessibility of care, as well as create unnecessary burdens on both patients and providers at the same time that such providers are expected to still be managing the COVID-19 public health emergency.”