IMPORTANT GRASSROOTS REQUEST FOR ACTION REMINDER!

ASCLS

Help Repeal the Clinical Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demo

YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED NOW!

 

All Clinical laboratory organizations and leading healthcare organizations are urging clinical laboratory professionals, health care professionals, and administrative leaders across the nation to help!

 

Take a few minutes to help halt this potential danger to the laboratory community and the patients we serve by contacting your Members of Congress now.

 

Help Defeat the Clinical Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demo!

 

ASCLS, clinical laboratory professional organizations and health care organizations are asking you to urge your Members of Congress to support:

 

§          H.R. 3453, the "Community Clinical Laboratory Fairness Act of 2007" 

      (bill introduced by Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)

 

§          S. 2099, "the Preserving Access to Laboratory Services Acts of 2007"

      (bill introduced by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Pat Roberts (R-KS)

 

Both bills respectively, seek to repeal the competitive bidding demonstration project for laboratory services under Medicare proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).   The leading clinical laboratory and health care organizations believe that implementation of this demonstration project would adversely impact clinical laboratories and patients access to quality services.

 

Clinical laboratory professionals, their colleagues in healthcare and their family members are being asked to contact their Members of Congress immediately and request support of these bills to repeal Clinical Laboratory Competitive Bidding.  Take the time now to email, phone or fax your concerns and your request. 

 

Why Your VOICE is Important...Why the Demo MUST be REPEALED:

While the demo may appear to affect only those in the demonstration site areas, the data gleaned from this demonstration project could be applied nationally, forcing smaller laboratories to close, denying patients accessible laboratory services, and ultimately jeopardizing the quality of laboratory services to patients.

 

CMS has not demonstrated an ability to maintain public health and patient safety standards if it were to implement this project. Patient safety and care should serve as the basis for all decision making in the health care arena, not perceived cost savings. CMS has not responded to the MANY concerns/questions relating to assuring access to quality laboratory services will not be impacted by this legislation.

 

 

Competitive Bidding:

Will impact patient care.

Patients may have to travel considerable distances at great inconvenience in order to use the bid winning clinical laboratory. This may result in patients not receiving those services due to the hassle of using the bid winning laboratory. Further, there is great concern that the bid winning laboratory will seek to reduce the frequency of pick-ups or test turnaround times in hard to serve geographical areas or at sites where a high level of service is needed but the cost to provide that service is very high, such as skilled nursing facilities.

 

Is actually anti-competitive.

The clinical laboratory is already highly competitive given the diversity of independent clinical laboratories, hospitals and physician office laboratory options available to patients and physicians in most metropolitan areas. However, the effect of competitive bidding will be to reduce the number of clinical laboratory service providers in a community, by virtue of CMS allocating market share to the bid winners, which will enable the bid "winners" to subsequently hold a dominant position in the market following the demonstration.

 

Will restrict physician choice.

Physicians select their preferred clinical laboratory for many reasons, including patient convenience, the quality of the service they receive, the accuracy and timeliness of the results. During the demonstration they may not longer be able to use the clinical laboratory of their choice if that laboratory service provider is not a "bid winner" under the demonstration.

 

ACT NOW.... CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY

 

Quick Links to Make Your Contacts via email, fax, phone!

Senators:  www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

            Representatives:  www.house.gov/house/        MemberWWW.shtml

 

To help you, attached are 2 example letters for you to use and personalize with your specific information and concerns relating to Competitive Bidding.

 

-Example repeal request letter

 

-Example thank you letter if your Member of Congress agrees to support and sign-on to the legislation

 

If you need anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

 

 

 

Lezlee Koch, ASCLS Region V Director