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- CAP Asks Congress for Laboratory Support in Upcoming Infrastructure Legislation
The CAP urged federal lawmakers to support laboratory infrastructure, resources for testing, and public workforce investments in a comprehensive strategy as part of infrastructure bills being debated in Congress. In addition, the CAP asked Congressional leaders to increase resources for testing, enhance existing relief programs, and offer additional financial assistance to pathologists and laboratories.
In a May 25 letter to congressional leadership, the CAP said: “While Congress has made incredible investments in testing, vaccines, and economic support to physicians and their patients to address the impact of COVID-19, the instability caused by the pandemic remains and is likely to be a factor for several years. Now more than ever, patients and their treating physicians are relying on the expertise of pathologists.”
The CAP asked Congress to include additional resources as the public health emergency continues and several challenges remain. Those challenges include acquiring testing supplies, particularly test kits, plastic pipette tips specimen acquisition swabs, and transport media. These challenges impede access, especially for smaller health systems, limiting the capacity for rapid testing.
The CAP has advocated for an additional $10 billion investment in expanding domestic manufacturing for pandemic supplies, including those used throughout the testing process and any efforts to fully use the Defense Production Act. The CAP also requested that Congress extend the relief provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to mitigate the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2022 payment reductions to all non-evaluation and management (E/M) services.