A monthly update on activities occurring on behalf of the members of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
Society News Now
A monthly update on activities occurring on behalf of the members of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
Issue 2 October 2014
In this Issue:
Membership Committee│Liaison to IFBLS│Government Affairs Committee│Annual Meeting Steering Committee and Advanced Management Institute│ASCLS Executive Committee Meeting and Upcoming ASCLS Board of Directors Conference Call
Call to Action! The Membership Committee is focusing their time on encouraging the contact of lapsed members. There are a significant number of our members that have not renewed, and we need to remind them of their importance to ASCLS. The Membership Committee has updated the scripts that can be used to reach out to these folks; the scripts are available on the Leadership Resources page. Reaching out by e-mail can work, but nothing beats that personal touch – a phone call or in person conversation with the member on the Lapsed list. We want to know why people are not renewing – hopefully they just forgot, but we might learn what drives our membership to believe in ASCLS (or not) if we make a personal contact.
For those of you that have already renewed, please take a few moments to log onto the ASCLS website and check your member profile to be certain it is accurate. This is how we communicate with mass e-mails, and we don’t want you to miss out.
ASCLS is the U.S. member of the International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science, and ASCLS Past-President Cathy Otto represents the interests of ASCLS and the U.S. clinical laboratory science community on this Board. Cathy attended the IFBLS meeting in Taiwan the first week of October. What a great opportunity to interact with our international colleagues! Look for a short report from the IFBLS meeting in an upcoming issue of this e-newsletter.
Congress is adjourned until after the Elections, but there is still activity.
- LDT (Laboratory Developed Tests): On September 9, the Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on Lab Developed Tests (LDT) and the FDA issued LDT Guidance the end of September. FDA is issuing this guidance because of the many labs using LDT and risks associated with this practice. They question patient safety and are issuing the guidance to insure these tests are appropriate and doing what they are intended to do. There is a 120 day comment period, and ASCLS is working on a statement. If you would like to contribute to this response, please contact the ASCLS office.
- Workforce: ASCLS worked with Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to schedule a meeting dealing with funding allied health care education. We are working with AACC, PT, OT, SLP, Audiology, Respiratory Therapy, and Registered Dieticians.
Get involved with Legislative and Governmental Advocacy! Attend the Legislative Symposium March 16-17, 2015 and help ASCLS conduct visits on Capitol Hill to lobby for issues that affect the laboratory community.
Annual Meeting Steering Committee and Advanced Management Institute
Members met in Atlanta, the site of the 2015 ASCLS Annual Meeting, the end of September to plan the program for both of these events. The Abstract and Program Proposal Review Committee and Scientific Assemblies actively solicited proposals, and over 150 proposals were reviewed and ranked as part of the process for determining the educational offerings for both the AMI and the Annual Meeting. The AMSC members are now working to solidify the proposals and develop speaker contracts. I think you all will be pleased with the quality of the sessions planned for Atlanta! Stay tuned for more information.
ASCLS Executive Committee Meeting and Upcoming ASCLS Board of Directors Conference Call
The ASCLS Executive Committee, a subset of the Board of Directors, met in Atlanta the end of September. Many issues were discussed, including the progress on the final version of the Body of Knowledge, our social media presence, the Coordinating Committee for the Clinical Laboratory Workforce (CCCLW), and the establishment of some new task forces. The full Board of Directors will meet by conference call on November 14. It is Fall BOD report time when constituent society presidents, Regional Directors, ASCLS National Committee chairs and ASCLS representatives to affiliated organizations provide reports of their activities, and bring forth grass roots concerns and requests for BOD actions. These reports were due October 20th.
Many other Activities! There were more reports of activities than I have room for in a one page newsletter. Would you prefer more news, or to keep this newsletter brief? Let me know at da_zzzz@yahoo.com Past issues of Society News Now can now be found at https://ascls.org/about-us/voice-your-opinion/the-ascls-connection-blog