2012-2013 CLSA Election Results

Send comments and suggestions to Shannon Billings shanbillings@gmail.com

2012-2013 Committee Chairs and Members

News

• SB 166: Laboratory Science Professional Licensing update:
  • The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee has scheduled a meeting on April 10, 2012, from 1:30-3:00 pm to hear arguments and testimony from laboratory professionals and the public about SB 166. There are several ways to be heard:
    • Attend the meeting in person. It would be great if some of our Juneau members could attend.
    • You can call to testify, the teleconference number is 855-463-5009. If several of you are going to call-in from one phone line, please either have one individual be the spokesperson for your group or divide up the topics amongst yourselves and have each one cover a different area. The operator will unmute your call when it is your turn to testify. You will have to identify yourself and your affiliation for the record. You can choose to defer the testimony to someone else and they will come back to you; time permitting . We need to have one member of CLSA give an overview before the testimony. We will try to have Gloria Tomich deliver an opening statement to the the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee.
    • Send a Public Opinion Message (POM). The link below provides information on how to send public opinion messages:
      http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/laa/lio/lio.php  
    • Send an e-mail to the Chair of the Committee – Dana Owen at Dana.Owen@legis.state.ak.us or call him at (907) 465-3881. Please also remeber to send a copy of your email to your respective representative and senators. If you are in favor of licensure bill, please ask your representative to consider sponsoring the bill in the House. Your legislator's contact information and a copy of the bill can be found in the "Alaska Licensure" button in the left hand side of the front page.  

• 2012 CLSA Annual Conference, March 28,29 &30, at the Sheraton Holtel in Downtown Anchorage.
  • Our Theme this year is "Patient Safety - The Final Frontier". The conference planning committee is working on a great three-day program with lots of variety to meet the educational needs of rural and urban laboratory professionals.
  • Highlights to date for the 2012 conference :
    • Keynote Address - ASCLS President Catherine Otto.  She will also lead a three hour interactive session on measuring patient safety.
    • Silent Auction for Food Bank of Alaska
    • Two days of exhibits in the Howard Rock Ballroom. We are aiming to have the ballroom filled to capacity.  During the Wednesday exhibitor’s reception we will have a “Trekkie” costume contest so dig out your favorite to wear.
    • Thursday evening’s social event will be dinner at Lucy’s on the UAA campus followed by a show at the UAA Planetarium.
  • For comments, suggestions, or if you would like to recommend a speaker please to not hesitate to contact:
    Constance Stager at constance.stager@hotmail.com
    Gloria Tomich at gatomich@uaa.alaska.edu
  
  
• Online registration for the 2012 CLSA Conference is now available at http://www.regonline.com/clsaspringconference2012

• "Turn Around Times" Now Available Online
  • The CLSA newsletter, the "Turn Around Times" is now available online.
  • Click here to view the current issue of the "Turn Around Times."


• CLSA joins Facebook
  • Search Clinical Laboratory Scientists of Alaska (CLSA) on Facebook.
  • Select "Like" CLSA to receive messages that other lab professionals post on the site and a $5/day discount at the 2011 Annual Conference.


• CMS Proposes to Rescind Lab Requisition Signature Requirement
  • Comments from providers, laboratories, and other stakeholders, such as ASCLS and CLSA, made a positive impact on the final outcome. ASCLS, along with the CLC and the AMA, were successful in getting CMS to rescind their proposed requirement of a physician signature laboratory test requisitions. This is a great example of how ASCLS is working for you.
    
    For more information please click on the link below:
    http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/LED-268101/CMS-Proposes-to-Rescind-Lab-Requisition-Signature-Requirement


• The Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Office for Civil Rights proposal on allowing patients to access test results directly from the laboratory by paper or electronic request.
  • There has been much debate about the pros and cons of this proposal and to date ASCLS has yet to take an official position. You can read more about this by clicking on the link below:
    
    The Journal of the American Medical Association article: "Should Patients Get Direct Access to Their Laboratory Test Results?"
    http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/early/2011/11/22/jama.2011.1797.full

Legislation

• Find your US Senator and Representative at:
  • http://www.thomas.gov
  • http://www.house.gov
  • http://www.senate.gov


• Find out which Alaska state Senate or House district you reside in:
  • http://www.elections.alaska.gov/maps.php
  • http://www.house.gov


• Track a bill:
  • http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp

Meetings & Conferences

• State
  • CLSA - Clinical Laboratory Scientists of Alaska
    • 2011 Annual CLSA Conference
    • 2010 Annual CLSA Conference


• Regional
  • ASCLS-WA - ASCLS Washington
    • 2012 Northwest Medical Laboratory Symposium
    • NWMLS Past Program Archives


• National
  • ASCLS - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
    • 2012 Annual Meeting July 17 - 21 Millennium Biltmore Hotel
    • Legislative Symposium 2012 March 19 - 20.