Professional advocacy should be regarded not as something nice to do, if you have some spare time. It is a crucial endeavor that helps not only our profession and our careers but also our patients. Advocacy raises awareness of our profession, and it influences public policies, ensuring pathology and laboratory medicine remain the cornerstone of healthcare.
ASCP is deeply dedicated to advocating for our members, our profession, and our patients, and the primary outcome of these efforts is raising awareness about the significant impact of the laboratory on patient care. It is with a patient-centric mindset that we pursue our advocacy efforts – and because of this approach, we see incredible success.
We recently secured a win in this space when, along with the ASCP Board of Certification (BOC), we successfully advocated for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to abandon their plans to allow individuals with Bachelor of Nursing degrees to perform high complexity testing. Not only did this combined effort succeed in preventing Bachelor of Nursing degrees from qualifying individuals to perform high complexity testing, but also in reversing CMS’ policy of considering nursing degrees as equivalent to biology degrees.
That is one win among many, but our efforts to ensure that all patients are receiving the highest-quality care don’t stop there. Several ongoing measures in the US have our attention and support, including:
- The Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act, which is intended to address chronic underfunding of the state, local, tribal, and territorial public health infrastructure. The legislation seeks to ensure a dedicated investment in foundational public health capabilities and workforce. The program would award grants to state and territorial health departments, and to local health departments serving more than 500,000 people, based on a formula determined by several factors, including population size, burden of preventable disease and disability, and poverty rate. ASCP has endorsed this act and will continue to monitor its progress.
- The Sickle Cell Disease Comprehensive Care Act (SCDCCA), which is legislation that would enable state Medicaid programs to provide comprehensive, coordinated care through a health home model for individuals with sickle cell disease. The bill sponsors have indicated that it could be considered by the Energy and Commerce Committee in an upcoming committee hearing. ASCP together with ASH, has urged that this measure is included on the committee’s agenda for consideration as soon as possible.
- Calling on members of Congress to fix the Medicare Physician and Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedules. ASCP encourages its members and those in the pathology and laboratory medicine community to contact their representatives on this matter, as these two fee schedules are critical players in determining whether laboratories get adequately reimbursed for the services they provide their patients. As these fee schedules aren’t keeping pace with the cost of medical inflation, the financial challenges are making it increasingly difficult for laboratories to ensure they can continue to meet the needs of their patients.
This is only a small sample of the efforts we are advocating, knowing that we are StrongerTogether when our voices are as one. We are shining a light on the essential care the laboratory community provides daily, and we don’t do this work alone. When you engage in advocacy work, you help the public, policymakers, and other stakeholders better understand the breadth and importance of the contributions you make to healthcare. And that can ultimately lead to better support and resources for you, for our community, and, importantly, for our patients.
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