Local News in Brief : U.S. Decertifies Pap Smear Lab
Federal health authorities have decertified Southern California’s largest Pap smear laboratory, saying it has misdiagnosed too many specimens.
Central Pathology Services Medical Group of Tarzana daily processes about 2,600 Pap smears, which are used by doctors to detect cervical cancer.
The company failed to diagnose cervical cancer or said the disease was present when it was not in 45--or nearly 4%--of 1,200 specimens randomly selected by the federal Health Care Financing Administration, officials said.
The action means that the government Medicare and Medi-Cal health insurance programs will no longer pay for Pap smears processed at the lab.
Central Pathology spokesman Martin Cooper said the lab will appeal the agency’s decision.
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