Volume 72 - Spring / Summer 1999	Download

President’s Report Essentials for the Future by Joeline D. Davidson, MBA, CLS(NCA), MT(ASCP) President, Board of Directors

NAACLS continues to see Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology (CLS/MT) programs close. In 1996, there were 352 programs. In 1999, there are 294 programs of which 27 are inactive. The inactive programs tend to close as their site visit time approaches.

Simultaneously, the health care environment is undergoing radical changes. Health systems are forming and are streamlining functions. Alliances of these health systems are developing, and these alliances are consolidating services. Regional and core laboratories perform testing previously handled by individual laboratories, thereby reducing costs. Rapid response laboratories handle the essential testing at the local site. Automation, robotics and computerized information delivery enable this consolidation of functions and centralization of testing to work efficiently and effectively. Point of care testing, the capacity to test blood in vivo and testing for analytes without piercing the skin further change the delivery of laboratory services.

As Medicare reimbursement continues to be cut and other third party reimbursers follow suit, there will be fewer dollars to continue health care delivery, as we know it.

One can conclude from the closure of programs and from the direction of health care changes and reimbursement that the number of traditional baccalaureate CLS/MT positions is diminishing. At the same time, the Clinical Laboratory Technician/Medical Laboratory Technician (CLT/MLT) programs have remained essentially constant in number. It is apparent that many CLT/MLTs are doing many of the traditional laboratory functions.

All of these changes have required expanded and different responsibilities for the CLS/MT including consultation on laboratory testing and services, supervision of testing, oversight of point of care testing, quality assurance, safety, infection control, teaching, marketing, reimbursement and billing issues, Medicare compliance, information systems, and administration and management.

These additional responsibilities raise the question, "What is the entry level to the profession?" What has in the past been known as the baccalaureate level is fast becoming the role of the CLT/MLT. It appears that the concept of entry level for the CLS/MT must change if there is to be a place for a professional level with responsibility for the above listed functions.

Who should be responsible for defining the CLS/MT role? First, the marketplace defines the current needs and the future opportunities inherent in the environment. The educators who have traditionally been the philosophers and the leaders in the profession anticipate the needs of the future environment and develop approaches for preparing students. It therefore becomes incumbent upon NAACLS to revise the Essentials to product the professional best prepared for the changed workplace.

By working together, we can develop Essentials that will enable programs to insure the appropriate education of our students. Who better to set the standards than NAACLS? NAACLS involves the educational institutions, the profession, and the employers to assist in the development of the Essentials.

NAACLS has both the opportunity and the responsibility to coordinate the efforts to shape and define the education of the CLS/MT. Prepared with a strong science background and expanded knowledge of new roles, the CLS/MT can succeed in the changing health care environment.

Your comments regarding the proposed Essentials are important to the revision process. A new draft (based on comments at the April hearing) was placed on the NAACLS website (www. naacls. org) in May. Presentations of the draft will be made at other professional meetings.

Comments at the open hearing indicated support for the direction of the draft proposal. NAACLS anticipates the approval of Essentials that will serve health care well into the beginning of the new millenium.

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			President’s Report Essentials for the Future by Joeline D. Davidson, MBA, CLS(NCA), MT(ASCP) President, Board of Directors
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