16th Annual ASCLS Legislative Symposium

Extract

Another successful ASCLS Legislative Symposium co-sponsored by CLMA was held March 22 and 23, 2004. Eighty-seven participants, representing 39 states, attended.

The meeting began with briefing sessions on Monday, March 22. These were intended to familiarize attendees with the issues which would be part of the lobbying efforts, to provide background education on other bills that they might be asked about at Congressional and Senate offices, and to educate them on how to lobby effectively.

As is typically the case, about half of the participants were attending the Legislative Symposium for the first time. Attendees ranged in experience from six clinical laboratory science students to a handful of members who have attended every year for the 16 years of this event.

The program also included a presentation by Judy Yost, Director of the CLIA program for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who presented a summary of the changes that were published on January 12, 2004 in the CLIA surveyors' manual (State Operations Manual), including the controversial provisions for equivalent quality control (EQC).

On Tuesday, March 23, participants made visits to the offices of their Senators and Congresspersons, including those Congressional members from the district where they live, as well as others from their state in some instances.

Three issues were on the docket for our lobbying efforts.