America’s Blood Centers (ABC) recently supported a laboratory workforce letter sent to members of Congress and led by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). The letter “urge[d] Congress to include medical and public health laboratory professionals in all federal workforce programs and to consider how addressing visa issues could help the laboratory and pathology workforce.” Specifically, it described the workforce challenges faced by the pathology and laboratory medicine workforce prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the pandemic “worsened these problems.” The letter also explained that “most medical and public health laboratories suffer from significant personnel shortages, and many are operating at or near crisis-mode. Staffing shortages now have the potential to undermine the ability of these laboratories to provide timely test results, which is imperative to both the public health and patient access to quality care.” It highlights how federal programs designed to help the healthcare workforce tend to be limited to “a subset of health professionals, such as physicians, nurses, and dentists. Laboratory professionals, and in particular entry-level laboratory professionals, are unable to benefit from these programs.” The letter was sent to Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), chair of the Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Bill Cassidy, Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee (R-La.), and Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
