I do several clia wavied tests, mainly as a convenience for patient:
DCA A1c
Cholestech Lipid
Cholestech Ast/ALT
Bayer UA tests
INR's
Hemocue Hgb
Hemocue Glucose
I have a mostly medicare practice, so after the staff wastes a few cartridges I doubt I make much on these.
I had thyrotests for a while, but they make you order so many , I found they expired before I used them all.
in fact, this has been a problem with many other clia waived tests like mono's. I don't have a adolescent population, so I would find my box of 25 mono's expiring before I used them all. Course we all know the tests are probably still good, but with the legal climate, well you know...
I used to draw venous tests in my office and had a lab courier pick them up, but I have found more and more insurances refuse to pay much of anything for this. So I just send the patient down one block to Quest Labs. they don't mind too much. Also before at the end of the month I would get my Quest bill and the staff would mess up and charge the wrong entity (they had to choose Client (MD), Insurance, or patient,) then I would have to submit a form to clean it up. Wasn't worth the time.
