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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 19, 2013 03:09 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Patricia H. Vance |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Memo #23 - Clinical Laboratory Act revisions |
| Please join me in introducing legislation to address an inequitable business practice recently brought to my attention involving the placing of phlebotomists or specimen collectors in physician and other health care provider offices in the Commonwealth. While the Department of Public Welfare Medical Assistance Programs’ regulations clearly prohibit the placement of paid or unpaid staff of another provider in a provider’s office, a licensing loophole in the Clinical Laboratories Act of 1951 has created a two-tiered laboratory structure in the Commonwealth. The result is that out-of-state federally-licensed labs provide the service without fear of sanction. The Department of Health’s Bureau of Laboratories licenses over 6,000 clinical laboratories in the Commonwealth. These clinical laboratories pay millions of dollars in state taxes; employ thousands of Commonwealth residents; and reinvest revenue in local economies statewide. They should be afforded the ability to compete on a level playing field with out-of-state labs. Holding out-of-state laboratories to the same requirements as in-state laboratories is the fair approach and will retain and attract family sustaining jobs. |
Introduced as SB1042