The American Clinical Laboratory Association has sued the federal government over changes to a reimbursement system for lab tests.

The group claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which runs those programs, did not follow congressional intent under a 2014 law to implement a market-based lab payment system, according to a statement on its website.

CMS' reimbursement system will cost the industry $670 billion in Medicare payments this year, ACLA says.

"We have repeatedly advised CMS that there are significant, substantive deficiencies in the final rule, which fails to follow the specific commands of the (Protecting Access to Medicare Act)," said ACLA President Julie Khani.

"Contrary to Congress's intent, instead of reforming Medicare reimbursement rates to reflect the broad scope of the laboratory market, the (Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services') final rule will disrupt the market and prevent beneficiaries from having access to the essential laboratory services they need," she said.

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