6/22/08

Hi Everyone,

We need your help.  As you all probably know, ASCLS, along with other laboratory organizations, has been fighting to stop the Medicare demonstration project to competitively bid laboratory services.  We have written many letters to Medicare explaining why this is a bad idea and we helped the laboratories in San Diego sue Medicare when they tried to conduct the competitive bidding project in that city.  We have worked with our partner organizations in the Clinical Laboratory Coalition to insert a repeal of competitive bidding in the Medicare package that Congress needs to pass by June 30th to save the physicians from deep reimbursement cuts.

Well that work has paid off.  The repeal of competitive bidding is in bills in the Senate and the House.  And the House bill was introduced today by Mr. Rangell and will be taken up by the House on Tuesday.  This is HR 6331.  You can see the text of the bill at  http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/110/6631.pdf .  It has the repeal of competitive bidding in section 145.  We need everyone to contact their congressional representatives and urge them to support this bill on Tuesday.  Please contact everyone you can and ask them to contact their representative.  I know that this is last minute but the House is trying to get this through quickly.  Again, please do what you can to get folks to contact their representatives.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks

 

Elissa Passiment

ASCLS

6701 Democracy Blvd, #300

Bethesda, MD 20817

301.657.2768 (voice)

301.657.2909

elissap@ascls.org