ePolicy April 2021

Publication Date: Apr 1, 2021

Senate Vote Would Reverse PFS Sequester Cut…Temporarily
The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved ASCP-supported legislation to extend the pause on a two-percent cut in Medicare payment rates. Learn how this could affect pathology and laboratory medicine.
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ASCP to Conduct 2021 Wage Survey
In April, ASCP will launch its biennial Wage Survey to obtain updated wage data for the nation’s clinical laboratory workforce. It will include questions about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on laboratory wages, staffing and retention of staff. The input of our members is vital in this important survey!
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ASCP, API Join Forces on FDA Digital Pathology Comments
ASCP has teamed up with the Association of Pathology Informatics to comment on a recent Food and Drug Administration Notice about relaxing FDA oversight on digital pathology products.
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ASCP and the AAMC Endorse Graduate Medical Education Legislation
ASCP and the American Association of Medical Colleges together are endorsing legislation intended to address physician (and pathologist) shortages.
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Efforts to Preserve Tennessee Lab Personnel Licensure Continue
In Tennessee, ASCP is working to stop legislation that would severely undermine the state’s laboratory personnel licensure law.
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Georgia Personnel Standards May Soon End
Despite ASCP’s vigorous efforts, the Georgia General Assembly will soon send legislation to the governor, repealing the state laboratory licensure and, with it, provisions for laboratory personnel standards.
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ASCP to Raise Concern about Over-the-Counter COVID-19 Screening Tests
As part of its goal to support test development, the Food and Drug Administration recently authorized several COVID-19 tests for over-the-counter use without a prescription. While these efforts are important as part of the U.S. pandemic response, particularly to help schools and workplaces screen for COVID-19, ASCP is concerned about the apparent lack of guidance linked with these new testing tools.
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MedPAC Supports ASCP Concerns about Medicare Payment Rates
ASCP’s concerns about Medicare laboratory payment rates have been validated by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), a nonpartisan advisory agency to Congress. MedPAC had been tasked by Congress to review two concerns that ASCP has been pressing federal policymakers on for years: (1) that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) payment rates were flawed, and (2) that the data collection process used by the agency were unnecessarily burdensome.
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For more information regarding ASCP's advocacy initiatives and policy positions, please contact ASCP's Center for Public Policy at (202) 408-1110.

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ASCP ePolicy News is supported by an unrestricted grant from Hologic.

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