The ADLM honored senator Shelley Moore Capito for advancing pediatric reference intervals, citing her support for related provisions in Senate appropriations bills for FY 2025 and 2026.
The Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) named Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) as the recipient of the Outstanding Legislator Award for the 119th Congress. The award recognizes Capito for her work to improve healthcare for children by advancing the development of pediatric reference intervals, according to a release from the association.
The ADLM notes that healthcare providers must evaluate pediatric laboratory test results within the context of reference intervals to interpret them correctly. These intervals represent the range of normal test values appropriate for the age, stage of development, ethnicity, gender, and geographical location of a child. Precise reference intervals are vital to long-term health, but limited access to samples from healthy children has hindered the establishment of these intervals for many pediatric tests.
Capito championed the issue of pediatric reference intervals with Senate appropriators, building support for the inclusion of report language in the Fiscal Year 2025 and Fiscal Year 2026 Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bills. The association has advocated for Congress to provide funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so the agency can use its infrastructure to develop better pediatric reference intervals.
“ADLM expresses its deepest gratitude to Senator Capito for her commitment to improving quality of care for pediatric patients through the advancement of clinical laboratory testing,” says Paul J Jannetto, PhD, president of ADLM, in a release. “Improving pediatric reference intervals is critical to ensuring that the country’s most vulnerable patient populations get accurate diagnoses and the care they need.”
Photo caption: Senator Shelley Moore Capito receives ADLM’s Outstanding Legislator Award for the 119th Congress from Dr. Danyel Tacker, a member of ADLM’s Policy and External Affairs Core Committee.
Photop credit: ADLM
