ASCP Urges Trump Administration to Reinstate CLIAC

ASCP is lobbying the Trump Administration to reverse its decision to shutter the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC). ASCP is joining the Association for Public Health Laboratories and other concerned pathology and laboratory medicine organizations in urging U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to reverse the decision to close CLIAC. 

The decision to terminate CLIAC came in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 14217, “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” which was released in late February. The executive order ordered the termination of “unnecessary” federal advisory committees that are not mandated by statute.  

ASCP had heard in late March that CLIAC may have been terminated but was unable to confirm the news. CDC only recently confirmed that CLIAC was terminated on March 31. CLIAC has been the principle federal entity advising the federal government on public policy, safety, and workforce issues related to anatomic pathology and clinical laboratory testing. Its relevance to quality patient care and laboratory testing cannot be overstated. 

Current and past members of CLIAC were unaware that the advisory committee had been shut down, though some were aware of rumors that it had been eliminated. In fact, some were under the impression that while the April Meeting of CLIAC had been canceled by the Trump Administration, a November meeting was expected. 

In addition, the CLIAC website is no longer functional, and records of past meetings, minutes, and presentations as well as CLIAC’s past recommendations and reports are no longer available.  These valuable resources should be restored, ASCP believes.