Press Start: Lead an Empowered Life as a Clinical Laboratorian : Legal/Regulatory Issues

Wanna Buy a Credential?

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:16:00 GMT

Since the ASCP took over the popular and progressive NCA in 2009, I have periodically received emails from medical lab professionals not happy with the merger for various reasons. Prompted by this overwhelming response, I have previously blogged about...(read more)

How Will the Sequester Affect You?

Glen McDaniel — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:35:00 GMT

With all this talk about sequestration everyone is bound to be concerned with how these spending cuts will affect them. Sequestration is such an odd word to be used Congress and picked up by the media as if it were a part of the regular lexicon. It is...(read more)

How to Maintain a State of Continued Readiness

Glen McDaniel — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 01:28:00 GMT

Generally I change the battery in my smoke detectors each year on the date we "fall back" to return to Daylight Standard Time I use this date as a convenient memory jogger to make sure I always have fresh batteries in what an essential part of my home...(read more)

Healthcare, Separate and Unequal?

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:04:00 GMT

Two items of news caught my attention this weekend. Tomorrow the Supreme Court will start hearing arguments about the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law ; the so called Obamacare. Is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148)...(read more)

CSI Effect Sends Wrong Signal to Patients

Glen McDaniel — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 04:19:00 GMT

In recent years the legal community has described a phenomenon called the CSI Effect .Based on the popularity of television programs like CSI, jurors as well as the public at large have come to expect that every criminal case can be solved definitively...(read more)

Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing

Glen McDaniel — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:18:00 GMT

In medical laboratory science -and in life in general- we tend to over-complicate issues. Making processes more difficult reduces productivity and (rather than ensure near-perfection as intended) might even be a safety risk in itself. As I wrote in a...(read more)

President Signs Executive Order for Regulatory Overhaul

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:52:00 GMT

In January, President Obama signed an executive order aimed at eliminating administrative obstacles to business and industry, saying he wanted to balance the need for regulation (to protect the public, for example) against the interests of economic growth....(read more)

CMS Rescinds Physician Signature Requisition Requirement

Glen McDaniel — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:13:00 GMT

I have always been a little uncomfortable with the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the oil." I understand the sentiment, but I did not philosophically agree that one had to be loud or confrontational to be heard. I have to say that in the case of the CMS...(read more)

Facebook Page Supports Personnel Licensure

Glen McDaniel — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:49:00 GMT

Over the years I have written many articles about clinical laboratory personnel licensure, including several blogs like this one . I continue to believe that licensure is necessary for protection of the public's health as well as our scope of practice...(read more)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repealed

Glen McDaniel — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:32:00 GMT

In a lame duck session, by a vote of 65 to 31, the US Senate voted to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell ( DADT )" a 17-year -old law that prevented gays from serving openly in the military. The bill now awaits the President's signature. For some, DADT is...(read more)

I Want To Be a Pharmacist

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:09:00 GMT

I want to grow up to be a pharmacist. Well, not really: let me explain. I recently ran across a woman who told me how her income had expanded exponentially in the last 3 years since she decided to become an immunization pharmacist. I am pretty up on healthcare...(read more)

Happy Customers Mean Great Bottom-line

Glen McDaniel — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 16:41:00 GMT

Just about every healthcare institution in the US currently conducts some sort of patient satisfaction survey. For hospitals the most respected and widely known is the Press Ganey Survey but there are several others available, and hyperbolic claims often...(read more)

Primary Care Dispute Brewing

Glen McDaniel — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:46:00 GMT

Over the years several healthcare professionals, especially nurses, have been successfully expanding their scope of practice. Generally these are professionals with additional training and possibly advanced degrees-but not always. They perform tasks intermediate...(read more)

I am Keeping My ASCP License

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:04:00 GMT

I am keeping my ASCP license. ASCP does not offer licensure, of course. I know that. But neither do any of the national agencies offering personnel certification in clinical laboratory science. Certification is a voluntary credential; you go to school,...(read more)

Clinical Laboratory Licensure Threatened in Georgia

Glen McDaniel — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:14:00 GMT

There is a bill winding its way through the Georgia General Assembly that threatens clinical laboratory licensure in the state. Sponsored by a nurse legislator, the bill HB 994 has had 2 reads. Ostensibly the intention is to save money. After all, those...(read more)