In comments submitted earlier today, ASCLS provided a ringing endorsement of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed intent to consider the Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science as a qualifying degree for High Complexity Laboratory Director under CLIA.
“DCLS degree-holders are laboratory leaders that recenter the clinical laboratory’s work on patients and more closely integrate the work of clinical laboratories into the broader patient care team. In addition, this change will expand pathways within clinical laboratories to utilize the knowledge, skills, and experience of our most talented and diverse laboratory professionals more effectively,” ASCLS President Kim Von Ahsen wrote in a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.
Answering the objections and misinformation from other groups opposing the move, Von Ahsen wrote, “We note with some concern that those who have traditionally objected to recognizing the DCLS as a qualifying degree do so without any reference to patients or the impact the clinical laboratory’s work has outside its walls. This sclerotic perspective minimizes the impact of clinical laboratory professionals, leading to underappreciated value and exacerbating long-term workforce shortages.”