AABB Urges Congress to Include Laboratory Workforce in Health Care Workforce Legislation

AABB urged leaders of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP Committee) to include medical and public health laboratory professionals when developing legislation to strengthen the health care workforce.

The Association shared its recommendations to strengthen the laboratory workforce serving in blood centers, hospital transfusion service laboratories and biotherapies laboratories in response to a request for information from HELP Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ranking Member Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.).

AABB’s recommendations include expanding eligibility and funding for federal scholarships, fellowships and loan repayment programs to include the entire laboratory workforce and increasing available immigration options. In addition, AABB encouraged policymakers to dedicate federal funding to activities that will raise the visibility of laboratory medicine careers and provide funding to increase the availability and capacity of laboratory training programs.

Additional information on AABB’s activities to strengthen the workforce can be found on AABB’s Workforce Initiatives web page.