Tense times in Washington

As some of you may know the country is in a crisis state trying to manage the budget. The Senate and House formed a committee to hack out (and I do mean HACK) the budgets of the National Government. This committee is suppose to help save our country in this economic crisis we are facing. So when your Government is facing an economic crisis... who you gonna call?... nope not the Ghost Busters with their super-sucking backpacks... you call the Super Committee.
But be warned when it comes to Clinical Laboratory funding they are more like the Joker or Riddler, with their proposed cuts and rumors.
Let's meet the members of this 'fearless' crew:
o The committee is made up of six Republicans and six Democrats and is co-chaired by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). The remaining committee members include representatives: Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); Jim Clyburn (D-SC); Xavier Becerra (D-CA); Energy and Commerce Chairman, Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ways and Means Chairman, David Camp (R-MI). The senate committee members are: Max Baucus (D-MT); John F. Kerry (D-MA); Jon Kyl (R-AZ); Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Rob Portman (R-OH).

And the rumors...

• 4-5% deduction in the next Fee Schedule which will last for 5-10 years


• Co-Pay for all laboratory testing


• One of these or both of these are included in 6 out of the 8 proposals

The biggest problem...

NO ONE is willing to fight for us on the Hill...

So where is our hero? Where is our Superman or Wonder Woman? M.I.A. (Missing In Action)

All we can do is wait for the Super Committee's report to be released in mid-November and hope and pray our HERO is somehow found.

ACTION ALERT!!!!

ACTION ALERT!

Members on Congress are back in their home states this week, so it is perfect time to go to your local offices and make your voice heard!

With the budget being debated and negotiated it is important to let our Representatives know how we feel about the potential cuts facing Clinical Laboratories. The latest news from Washington is not only is Congress considering having Clinical Laboratories implement a Co-pay, but they are also discussing cutting the Fee Schedule by as much as 10%. President Obama has vowed to leave Medicare/ Medicaid services out of the cuts, but Congress has other ideas.

What can you do?

• 
  
  Visit your local Representative and Senator's office and ask to speak to a Health care aid.


• 
  
  Call your local offices and voice your concern.


• 
  
  Contact your local office and see if there are going to be any rallies or public meetings which you could attend.


• 
  
  Get a group of people to go with you to your local office and have them share their support.


• 
  
  Go to the National ASCLS website and download talking points for revamping the Fee Schedule and other information about the Clinical Fee Schedule.

Make your voice heard and let Washington know the effects of their decisions here in their home states.

Washington, D.C.

Legislative days:
Today we, Judy, Lindsey and I, walked the hill and talked to the Legislative Healthcare Aides for our Senators and Representatives. The issues we discussed with them are: 1) Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs); 2) personnel shortage- reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act; and 3) Fee Scheduling.
1) Laboratory Developed Tests:

• FDA oversight should not be initiated without continued, interactive dialogue with the clinical laboratory community and industry stakeholders
• Any new guidance or regulation should:
• 1- Be based on a better stratification of risk than is currently used for waiver test categorization;
• 2- Accommodate innovation to meet the growing needs of the clinical practices;
• 3- Avoid redundancy with current regulatory agencies and avoid adding unnecessary costs to ensure laboratory testing is affordable to patients;
• 4- Utilize a process that can be handled with staffing levels and resources the agency can prove are available, to ensure the effective and efficient oversight of LDTs;
• 5- establish a fast track process for those tests that are developed to address emergency situations, including acute public health outbreaks related to communicable diseases such as H1N1 influenza detection; and
  
• 6- Allow for provisional use of esoteric tests, with appropriate disclaimers, where there is limited access to samples for clinical validation.
• Any legislation concerning genetic testing, personalized medicine and/or LDT should not be crafted without input from clinical laboratory professionals and other stakeholders in the clinical laboratory community.

These were some of the talking points we used when telling the aides about our concerns if the FDA decides to move forward with regulating all laboratory developed tests.
More to come later....
Personnel shortage
Fee Schedule

Thanks to Kim for the easy link from the awesome new website!! Be sure to check out the new National ASCLS website and the new ASCLS-IA website!
~ Theresa