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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Tuesday disclosed it is delaying until the second quarter of 2011 implementation of a policy requiring a physician’s signature on clinical lab service requisitions.

This change was contained in the 2011 Physician Fee Schedule Final rule.

“We are very pleased that the implementation of the requirement has been delayed so that long term care providers across the nation can continue to ensure their frail, disabled, and elderly patients have unfettered access to vital clinical lab tests,” Bruce Yarwood, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association, said in a statement.