Laboratory Corp. of America (NYSE:LH) is a healthcare diagnostics company providing comprehensive clinical laboratory services to medical professionals and end-to-end drug development support to pharmaceutical manufacturers. LabCorp reported stronger than expected organic growth during the first quarter in both its diagnostics and drug development segments and raised its financial forecast for the full year. Covance, its drug development segment, has demonstrated improving operating momentum the past three quarters, with strength across each of its primary end markets (pre-clinical, central lab, late stage). Finally, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) highly anticipated Final Rule on changes to the Medicare Clinical Lab Fee Schedule in mid-June included two positives for the lab industry – a delay in implementation until 2018 and the inclusion of higher cost outpatient hospital labs, which is a piece that will determine future reimbursement levels. While final details won’t be known for some time, we anticipate these reimbursement changes will have a very modest impact on LabCorp’s future earnings power.
From Weitz Partners Fund's second quarter 2016 commentary.
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