During the COVID-19 pandemic, independent laboratories provided critically needed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests (Current Procedure Terminology Code: 87635) to identify positive COVID-19 patients. The Families First and Coronavirus Relief Act and CARES Act require commercial insurance plans to cover COVID-19 testing costs without any cost-sharing for patients, but do not set the price.1,2 Prior research has examined the variation in charges for PCR tests in laboratories.3 However, their financial return from COVID-19 testing remains unexplored. Using the unique taxation data from Hawaii, we analyzed how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the revenue and profitability of independent laboratories.
Halliday, T., Tan, C., Juarez, R. et al. Financial Implications of COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests on Independent Laboratories. Journal of General Internal Medicine (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-022-07676-1