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There were several exciting days this past month for those of us concerned with issues facing clinical labs. As discussed in this space in July’s CLP, in June of this year, the US House of Representatives passed a bill, HR 6331, that repealed a previous proposal for a competitive laboratory bidding demonstration. This proposal, if not repealed, would have placed an onerous burden on labs in their efforts to deliver quick and accurate diagnostics.
This fact was recognized by the US Senate, which voted for a similar bill a couple of weeks later. Then, as expected, on July 14, President Bush vetoed the legislation, which contained a number of additional measures related to Medicare reform. A day later, the veto was overturned easily by votes of 383 to 41 and 70 to 26, in the House and Senate, respectively. Everyone in the clinical lab space can now breathe a bit more easily, knowing this issue has been put to rest for the foreseeable future.
Coming up very quickly on the horizon is the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) meeting in Washington, DC (July 29-31), which will be in full swing when this issue goes to press. We’ve been watching the promo material from the many vendors, as well as the press briefings and session titles. It appears that molecular and point of care continue to be of high interest, particularly applications in sepsis/MRSA and pharmacogenetic applications such as warfarin dosage adjustment.
- For the “hot news” from AACC, bookmark our website.
Our associate editor, Judy O’Rourke, and myself will be posting the hot news from the show, and if you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to visit our Web site, www.clpmag.com, and read our take on what was hot. One event I’m looking forward to will be the Olympus Partnership Awards presentation to AACC’s Van Slyke Foundation and luncheon with Cokie Roberts. You can also read coverage of this event in next month’s magazine, as well as at the Web site.
As always, I welcome your thoughts on industry news and trends. Please feel free to contact me at , and continue to send news releases to .
Suzanne Clancy
