17th Annual ASCLS Legislative Symposium

Extract

Another successful ASCLS Legislative Symposium co-sponsored by CLMA was held March 21 and 22, 2005. More than 130 participants representing 40 states attended. This was an impressive increase over the 75 to 80 participants that have attended in each of the past few years.

The meeting began with briefing sessions on Monday, March 21. 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, more than half of the participants were attending the Legislative Symposium for the first time. Attendees ranged in experience from clinical laboratory science students to a handful of members who have attended every year for the 17 years of this event.

The program also included a presentation by Judy Yost, Director of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) program for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Ms Yost presented updates on several aspects of laboratory accreditation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is auditing laboratory quality oversight at the request of Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland. The audit will review the inspection processes conducted by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and COLA. Representative Cummings has introduced a bill that would require unannounced accreditation inspections. Another CLIA initiative is continued focus on the quality of testing in…