documents

CCCLW Addresses Growing Workforce Shortage
The Coordinating Council on the Clinical Laboratory Workforce in April identified four strategic directions to address the workforce shortage: Developing a business case for increasing investment to resolve the shortage; improving the professional profile of laboratory professionals by expanding their role on the healthcare team; aligning the scope of practice by standardizing credentials and aligning curriculum; and developing effective recruitment and retention efforts. more...

Minnesota Clinical Laboratory Collaborative
Don’t miss the Minnesota Clinical Laboratory Collaborative, May 14–16, 2008. This conference promotes networking with other laboratory professionals from across the state and provides multiple opportunities for continuing education. more...

Research Validates Method to Differentiate between Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
A study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology advances the notion that the concentration of certain proteins within cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can help determine whether a patient has Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. more...

Update on Pod Lab and Pathology Anti-Markup Lawsuit
A Federal judge has issued a temporary injunction in a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for its efforts to prohibit clinicians from marking up the professional or technical component of anatomic pathology services they order but do not perform. more...

ASCP Announces Resident Council Subspecialty Grant Recipients
The American Society for Clinical Pathology has awarded a total of $20,000 in resident grants during the academic year 2008-2009 to defray the cost of doing elective rotations at outside institutions in fields of pathology in which the resident desires intensive exposure, especially in the form of consult material. more...

Strategic Planning Brings Change
The ASCP Board of Directors each summer traditionally fine tunes and formally delineates the Society's strategic plan for the coming year. I knew ASCP had gone through a period of change, but I did not appreciate its magnitude until I reviewed the goals and achievements of the last few years. more...

Reviving the Issue of Safe Patient Care Practices
All healthcare providers must renew their commitment to improving patient safety, but pathologists and laboratory professionals are better placed than most to monitor what happens in their institutions. As a result, they can be an important driving force for change when it comes to improving patient safety. more...

ASCP, Pathology Community Continue Press on Anti-Markup Rule
ASCP is teaming up with other members of the pathology community, including the College of American Pathologists and the American Clinical Laboratory Association, to ensure that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) does not dilute its recent anti-markup rule on anatomic pathology procedures. more...

Volunteers: Forging the Future of Laboratory Medicine
I have stressed the need for members to volunteer with ASCP more than once. So why, one might ask, do we need so many volunteers? Don’t we have a staffed ASCP office to run things? more...

ASCP Activists Flood the Senate with Messages
On June 26, the Senate Democrats failed by one vote to gain cloture on the House-passed Medicare package (H.R. 6331). ASCP is urging everyone to send a strong message urging passage of the ASCP-supported legislation to the Senate through the ASCP e-Advocacy Center. more...

The Other Big Workforce Shortage
Like the silent killers that affect our patients, it has gone largely unnoticed by both the public and even by many who work in healthcare, because its full impact has yet to be realized—the shortage of medical laboratory professionals. more...

The Future of Pathology Depends on Our Adaptability
Will microscopy as we know it eventually become obsolete? Will glass slides be replaced by high definition digital images that can be carried around on small portable storage devices or transported long distances via the Internet? more...

ASCP Institute Seeks French & Portuguese Speaking Members
The ASCP Institute's global outreach program is seeking members who are fluent in French and/or Portuguese to translate education materials and serve as training facilitators and/or provide technical assistance in Haiti, Cote d'Ivoire, Rwanda and Mozambique. more...

Redefining the Laboratory’s Role in Health Care
by E. Susan Cease, MT(ASCP)
Whether you call it strategic planning, long-term planning or goals/needs assessment, it adds up to the same thing. We are trying to shape our future rather than let the future shape us. more...

ASCP at 28th World Congress of Biomedical Laboratory Science
The ASCP Board of Registry (BOR) will discuss international certification at the 28th World Congress of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Aug. 24-28, in New Delhi, India. ASCP, a "Quality Partner" of the event, also will be on hand to discuss the possibility of helping to coordinate and plan the 2010 Congress. more...

CDC Selects ASCP to Continue Fight Against HIV/AIDS
With the President’s signing of the HIV/AIDS reauthorization bill, the ASCP is again being called on by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue its efforts in strengthening laboratory services for the testing and monitoring of HIV/AIDS patients abroad. more...

ASCP Hill Day 2008: Advocacy Takes Center Stage
When someone mentions Washington, DC, what do you think – presidents, stone monuments, history…national politics? For me, the city inspires a mix of awe at what our country has accomplished since its inception and the potential we have to shape our future. more...

Advocacy Efforts Have Unexpected Outcome
A contingent of ASCP members hit the pavement on Capitol Hill April 29, visiting with more than 60 key Congressional members and high level staffers to educate them on the needs of the laboratory community. It was an unprecedented display of strength on the part of ASCP. Hill Day also had an unanticipated but powerful effect on me and several other volunteers. more...

Keeping the Team Strong
by Lee Hilborne, MD, MPH, DLM(ASCP)^CM, FASCP, FCAP
Over the course of our lives we all experience a variety of transitions. Some transitions are common to almost everybody while others are unique to just a few individuals. more...

Galveston Medical Technology Students Thank You for Used Books
Only a few days after the call to action, ASCP members came to the rescue with used book donations for the medical technology students at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB). Nearly 50% of the medical technology students lost most of their belongings in their rooms on Galveston Island when Hurricane Ike struck. more...

CDC Awards ASCP with Funding to Support PEPFAR II
The ASCP this month was awarded $3.9 million for the first year of its second five-year initiative with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue its efforts in strengthening laboratory services for the testing and monitoring of HIV/AIDS patients abroad. more...

ASCP Resident Council Coming of Age
ASCP Resident Council Chair Message by Anna M. Moran, MD
Being a pathology resident can be somewhat perplexing. On the one hand, we are not quite full-fledged pathologists; but, at the same time, we’re not exactly students anymore. While most residents are ready to be on their own, leaving the relative safety of a resident training program is still a little daunting. A look back at the 2007-2008 year and the ASCP Resident Council’s list of accomplishments convinced me that our Society is working to help ease that transition. more...

Major Laboratory Certification Agencies Reach Agreement to Unite
The American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Registry (ASCP-BOR) and The National Credentialing Agency for Laboratory Personnel (NCA) have reached an agreement on the formation of a unified credentialing agency. more...