Elections are Over
The 2012 Presidential elections are now over. After a record estimated 6 billion dollars and a hugely divided electorate, President Barack Obama was re-elected rather resoundingly for a second four year term.
In many ways this was not the highpoint in American campaigning with boldly inaccurate campaign ads, personal attacks and accusations of not being American or patriotic enough.
But it's all over. So now what? Presuming you are not one of those people who threatened to move to Canada if your candidate lost, what will you do differently? How will the results affect you as an individual and a laboratorian?
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or so called Obamacare will most likely not be repealed (at least in this term) and the projected roll-out will occur as planned. Most are not familiar with the contents of the huge (2409 pages) bill and its staggered timeline.
Labs have an opportunity to maximize the advantages by preparing for the influx of new patients who will be newly insured under PPACA. Staffing models will have to be different to meet increasing demands for testing as well as providing results in a more understandable, useful format.
There is still a huge question as to whether CMS and other agencies will institute onerous, time consuming or expensive mandates for laboratories to meet as a condition of payment or accreditation.
Time will not stand still. The population will continue to get older, meaning both more patients requiring lab tests and a dwindling laboratory workforce due to retirement of older laboratorians.
These are eventualities we should have been planning for anyway. The bottom line is that whoever is in the White House our daily lives should be focused on service and leading our best lives rather than being tossed around by the vagaries of politics.