ASCP Needs All Members to Advocate for Laboratory Payment Reform

Thanks to the grassroots advocacy efforts of ASCP members, Congress took an important step earlier this year to protect patient access to clinical laboratory services by delaying a significant cut in Medicare payments for laboratory services for 2026. As a result, payment cuts of up to 15 percent affecting hundreds of diagnostic tests have once again been paused—briefly—creating an important window for policymakers to advance long-term reform.

While the delay in payment cuts offers meaningful short-term relief, laboratories are required to resume reporting commercial market data to CMS in May, which could again result in lackluster and unrepresentative data used to set Medicare rates for laboratory services. As a result, it is essential that we all work together to secure foundational reform before the end of the year. Without reform, patients could face reduced access to timely testing, providers may see disruptions in care delivery, and communities could experience further strain on the local laboratory infrastructure.

Momentum is building in Congress to address these challenges through the bipartisan Reforming and Enhancing Sustainable Updates to Laboratory Testing Services (RESULTS) Act. ASCP supports the RESULTS Act and its essential reform to a flawed payment system for clinical laboratories. The RESULTS Act would provide long-term stability to the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), improve the accuracy of private payor-based CLFS rates, mitigate future payment cuts, and dramatically reduce the PAMA data reporting burden on laboratories.

The legislation has already secured strong bipartisan support in both chambers and was the subject of a recent House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee hearing, where lawmakers and industry leaders underscored the urgent need to modernize the Medicare laboratory payment system and protect access to testing. But more support is needed to get this legislation signed into law.

Now is a critical time to act. Lawmakers need to hear directly from everyone in the laboratory community about the importance of long-term reform. ASCP urges everyone to weigh in with their member of Congress about the need to enact RESULTS this year at StopLabCuts.org. This grassroots advocacy portal provides a draft letter you can send your legislators, and it only takes a few minutes of your time.  Take action today!