ASCP and ASCP Board of Certification Secure Changes to RN Testing Bill

ASCP and the ASCP BOC secured beneficial changes to a bill working its way through the Florida legislature. The measure SB1457 initially was drafted to allow anyone working in a hospital emergency room or hospital-based off campus emergency room to perform laboratory testing. ASCP and the ASCP BOC responded in opposition to the measure.

The bill, which was crafted as an exemption from Florida’s laboratory personnel licensure rules, was subsequently changed to limit the exemption to licensed registered nurses (RNs). A letter from ASCP and the BOC to the Florida Senate Health Committee urged that RNs should only be allowed to perform waived testing and only under the direction and oversight of a CLIA-qualified laboratory director (or their designee).  

The legislature subsequently changed the bill to allow RNs to perform only waived and moderate testing, but only if deemed qualified by the clinical laboratory director.

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