THE PUBLIC MIND: MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST SAYS PROPOSED BILL A DISCERVICE

To Health Care Finance Administration, Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C.:

As a Medical Technologist registered by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and licensed by the state of Tennessee, I am very concerned about the final rules of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA 88). For Congress to deregulate personnel standards in the clinical laboratories across the country will be doing a disservice to the American people.

Medical Technologists daily call upon their knowledge of anatomy and physiology, biochemistry, electronics, physics, algebra, quality control parameters, and the quirks of instrumentation in the performance and reporting of patient results. Laboratorians must provide accurate and reliable information to the physicians. Most high school graduates would be unable to comprehend the scope of the daily laboratory functions, nor would they have the maturity to handle the sensitive data processed, for example: HIV, alcohol/drug screens and HBV testing.

To provide results or to allow the supervision of personnel without the fundamental understanding of the human condition would be an act of criminal negligence. Many malpractice suits will be generated as physicians act upon less than reliable results performed by less than reliable personnel.

I would appreciate your review of this situation and urge you to respond to this portion of the amendment. Please help us continue to provide the high quality of care that we now supply. We also request your support in providing funds to help alleviate the shortage of QUALIFIED Medical Technologists.

Very truly yours,

Carol E. Vogel, M.T.

627 Louis

Cape Girardeau