To raise awareness of the laboratory professions among high school students, ASCP recently chose 40 ASCP Career Ambassadors for 2013–2014. Sponsored by Roche, the program is a collaborative effort to address a laboratory science workforce shortage by placing dedicated, certified ASCP members into classrooms nationwide to promote the profession to pre-college students. Read more

Forty members of the ASCP have been selected to serve as ASCP Career Ambassadors, making presentations to pre-college students to create awareness about medical laboratory science as a career. Sponsored by Roche, the Career Ambassador Program is a collaborative effort to address the looming laboratory science workforce shortage by putting newly certified members into classrooms across the country to create awareness and discuss the benefits of the profession to pre-college students. Read more

Julie Chapman, PBT(ASCP)^CM, exudes enthusiasm when she talks about careers in laboratory medicine. “You have no idea how much I promote this profession,” says Ms. Chapman, who teaches phlebotomy at the Stautzenberger Institute, in Allen Park, Mich., near Detroit. “About 10 to 15 of my students want to go into the medical laboratory field because I have encouraged them to explore it. Most were not aware of this field.” Read more

Medicare Laboratory Fees Under Microscope … Again
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released a report claiming Medicare overpays for clinical laboratory services by 18 to 30 percent. The report, Comparing Lab Test Payment Rates: Medicare Could Achieve Substantial Savings, compares Medicare payment for clinical laboratory services to Medicaid and three Federal Employee Health Plans. To address these supposed “overpayments,” the report recommends cutting the clinical laboratory fee schedule (CLFS), imposing co-pays and deductibles on the CLFS, and instituting competitive bidding of clinical laboratory services. Read more