ASCP Urges Renewed Focus on Testing Issues to Biden Transition Team; Recommends Procop to Advisory Role

Last August, ASCP wrote members of the Biden Transition Team’s COVID-19 Advisory Board to provide counsel on issues related to the role of laboratory testing in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. In its August 24th letter, ASCP noted its recent work with the federal and state governments in addressing COVID-19 testing issues and in urging the development of a comprehensive, coordinated, national COVID-19 testing strategy. Unfortunately, the strategy currently in place lacks the strong, cohesive federal government leadership role ASCP had sought. Instead, it largely relies on the states working independently of one another to address the pandemic.

In the letter to Biden Transition officials, ASCP outlined several steps necessary for the new Administration to better control the COVID-19 pandemic, including strengthening the federal government’s leadership role. ASCP also recommended that the Biden Administration establish an independent advisory committee composed of recognized laboratory and public health experts. This panel would help provide the federal government with unvarnished insights on how best to use laboratory testing as a tool against the COVID-19 pandemic and to help improve federal and state efforts to address the challenges. This panel could improve federal response efforts pertaining to laboratory supply and personnel shortages that are constraining the ability of America’s clinical laboratories to meet the demand for COVID-19 testing services.

Toward that end, ASCP recommended Gary Procop, MD, MS, MASCP, Chair of ASCP’s Commission on Science, Technology, and Public Policy, as a nationally recognized expert on COVID-19 testing issues to serve as a point of contact. ASCP pledged to work collaboratively with the Biden Administration and Transition Team to move swiftly to help improve the U.S. healthcare community’s ability to meet the needs of all Americans, particularly this infected by or at high risk from COVID-19.

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