Lawmakers are renewing efforts to tackle the national clinical lab staffing crisis with the reintroduction of the Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill that would expand training grants and loan forgiveness programs to strengthen the medical laboratory workforce.
Efforts to address the nation’s clinical laboratory staffing crisis have regained momentum with the reintroduction of the Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act of 2025. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02) and Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), seeks to bolster recruitment and retention across a profession facing severe shortages.
According to a September press release from Kiggans and Ross, the bill is designed to “address the nationwide shortage of clinical laboratory professionals” by expanding eligibility for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) to include medical laboratory personnel and establishing new federal grants for accredited colleges and universities to train future lab workers.
“Across the country, clinical laboratories face vacancy rates as high as 25%,” the release stated. “These shortages strain healthcare delivery, lead to longer wait times for patients, and contribute to burnout among existing lab staff.” The lawmakers noted that laboratory professionals are essential to healthcare operations, as “doctors depend on the diagnostic work done by laboratory professionals for nearly 70% of their medical decisions.”
“As a nurse practitioner, I know that access to quality healthcare depends on having the right professionals in place at every level,” said Congresswoman Kiggans in the press release. “That’s why I’m proud to join Congresswoman Deborah Ross on the Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act. This important legislation will add medical laboratory professionals to the National Health Service Corps and provide grants to accredited institutions to train more laboratory scientists and technicians.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02) said, “Our nation faces a severe shortage of clinical laboratory professionals—a problem that will only worsen as our population ages. Without enough trained experts, our clinical labs cannot keep pace with the growing demand and complexity of medical testing, which is essential for diagnosing and treating patients. Investing in our medical laboratory workforce strengthens our health system, supports patients, and ensures we are prepared to meet future challenges.” (Photo credit: https://kiggans.house.gov/)
Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act of 2024
The proposal is built upon the Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act of 2024, introduced the previous year before the November elections, as reported by G2 Intelligence. The updated version continues provisions that would amend the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e) to direct the Health and Human Services Secretary to identify areas suffering from shortages of qualified laboratory professionals and deploy NHSC members to those locations.
The act would also establish a Medical Laboratory Personnel Education Program, operated through grants and contracts awarded to accredited nonprofits, allied health schools, and hospitals. These funds would expand training capacity, support internships required for certification, and help recruit qualified faculty which have been longstanding barriers to increasing the pipeline of lab professionals.
In an interview with G2 Intelligence, Jim Flanigan, CAE, executive vice president of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), said the act offers two major advantages: “the establishment of a federal grant program that would allow educational programs to expand the number of students they can train at a given time” and the inclusion of laboratory professionals in the NHSC, which would make them eligible for student loan forgiveness. “Both efforts will help in attracting individuals to the lab career path,” he said.
Rodney Rohde, PhD, MS, SM(ASCP)CM, SVCM, MBCM, FACSC, chair and professor of clinical laboratory science at Texas State University, told G2 Intelligence that he “cannot overemphasize the impact that establishing a program for lab personnel loan repayment will have for building our pipeline in recruiting and retention of students interested in the medical laboratory major and career path.” He added, “Laboratory testing follows patients throughout their lives, from cradle to grave, and it drives about two-thirds of all medical decisions made by doctors and other healthcare professionals.”
Despite the strong backing from organizations such as ASCLS, the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine, and the American Clinical Laboratory Association, the bill’s path forward remains uncertain amid fiscal restraint on Capitol Hill. “All programs that incur significant costs are going to face challenges in getting passed,” Flanigan noted.
Still, as G2 Intelligence reported, supporters see the act as a vital “investment in our public health and our invaluable laboratory workforce.”
Encouraging the next generation of clinical laboratorians could contribute to solving current staffing shortages in the nation’s medical laboratories
This holiday season brings an exciting new gift that will catch the attention of Dark Daily’s readers. It’s a children’s book that introduces young readers to working in clinical laboratories!
“This is a steppingstone into the career of laboratory science, so we should share what we do with the world. Any lab scientist who has a child, niece, nephew, or grandchild in their life should give this gift. It could open an entirely new world of possibilities for them. It could make them excited for science,” said the book’s author Kelli Garcia, microbiology supervisor at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, part of Trinity Health of New England, in an exclusive interview with Dark Daily.
“Most children have a small idea or image of what options are available in medicine or science—usually a doctor or nurse. They never see the people that work behind the scenes or different areas,” Garcia noted.
She penned her book with hopes of calling attention to medical fields beyond those most commonly seen by children, as she also had only learned about the field when she was graduating from college.
“I Want to be a Laboratory Scientist,” is now available at many major retailers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. (Graphic copyright: Kelli Garcia.)
Opening Children’s Eyes
Garcia’s journey took about four years from the moment she began writing to finally finding a publisher for her 36-page book that’s geared toward 6-8 year-olds. “I spent many hours writing and rewriting so it wouldn’t be too specific but also not too minimal that the point and purpose would be missed,” she said, adding that her daughter was her muse.
Garcia’s own children have excitedly brought the book to their schools and shared them with their local library. Such steps could help a field that is working hard to keep up with demand.
“There are so many ways to engage children in different areas of science as long as we make those areas known to them. They don’t all wants to be a doctor or nurse, but some still want to help in another way. This book will show them you can be in medicine helping people but behind the scenes—the unsung hero,” microbiologist and children’s book author Kelli Garcia (above) told Dark Daily. She added, “It will also make them aware that laboratory science is a rewarding career and show that it’s not just doctors and nurses who are involved in treating patients.” (Photo copyright: Kelli Garcia.)
Those low numbers are not going unnoticed. The Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act of 2024, introduced in September by State Representative Deborah Ross (NC-02), was created to help bring a much-needed boost to the field. The Act brought in grants for clinical laboratory staff training in accredited institutions and added “medical laboratory professionals to the National Health Service Corps,” the ASCLS noted.
The ASCLS continues to encourage those working in clinical laboratories to make their voices heard on Capitol Hill to further support the field.
Hope is growing that more students will choose clinical laboratory work for their futures. Medical and clinical laboratory technologist was listed in Careers Fittest rankings of the top 14 careers to consider in 2024/2025. Careers Fittest cited an 11% job growth expected in the area by 2031.
It is a worthy objective to educate younger children about the career path of a clinical laboratory scientist and opportunities to work in microbiology laboratories. Perhaps Garcia’s new children’s book will help with that trend, and just in time for the holidays!
Representatives from almost 50 different clinical laboratories, professional associations, and societies came together this week to align efforts to expand the supply and retention of qualified laboratory scientists
FORT WORTH, TEXAS—Last week, representatives from a broad cross section of clinical laboratories, lab and pathology associations, public health laboratories, and lab regulatory bodies gathered specifically to identify ways to expand the number of skilled lab professionals.
COLA organized the “Workforce Action Alliance Summit,” a one-day gathering of key clinical laboratory stakeholders who share a common interest in developing initiatives that would directly increase the number of individuals choosing to pursue a career in laboratory medicine.
This is not a new problem, as the lack of trained laboratory scientists across all scientific disciplines has been acute for many years.
In a communication sent to invited participants, COLA’s CEO, Nancy Stratton, and COO, Kathy Nucifora, described the objective of the summit, writing:
“Clearly a call to collective action is required if we are to address the impending clinical laboratory workforce shortage. The past three years have demonstrated the significance of a resilient laboratory infrastructure, not only for the daily care of millions of Americans, but also during the global pandemic. The numerous efforts currently underway to resolve the shortage are unquestionably a component of the solution. Many, however, believe that these efforts are insufficient to close the gap between the projected number of new entrants into the profession, the rate at which those currently in the profession are departing, and the future demand for laboratory testing.”
Robert L. Michel, Editor-in-Chief of Dark Daily’s sister publication The Dark Report was a participant at COLA’S workforce summit. The Dark Report regularly profiles clinical laboratory organizations that have developed innovative and productive initiatives designed to increase the number of students choosing to train as medical technologists (MTs), clinical laboratory scientists (CLSs), medical laboratory technologists (MLTs) and other skilled lab positions.
In materials distributed at the summit, the ongoing gap between demand for skilled lab professionals and the supply was illustrated thusly:
“The US Department of Labor estimates 320,000 bachelors and associates degreed laboratory professionals are working in the United States. If each of those professionals worked a standard 40-year career, the natural annual attrition of 2.5% would require 8,000 new professionals to maintain their current numbers. This exceeds the current output of accredited educational programs by more than 1,000 annually.”
Case Studies of Success
Over the course of the day, participants at the summit heard about the successes of certain laboratory organizations designed to get more students into training programs, supported by the educational courses required for them to become certified in their chosen area of laboratory medicine. These case studies centered around several themes:
Obtaining funding specifically to establish an MT/CLS training program to increase the number of candidates in a region. One example involved ARUP Laboratories and its success at working with a local Congressional representative to get a $3 million federal grant funded as part of a larger legislative package.
The medical laboratory scientist (MLS) program at Saint Louis University (SLU) worked with Quest Diagnostics to launch an accelerated bachelor’s degree program. The 16-month program combines online academic courses with intensive hands-on learning and clinical experiences in Quest’s Lenexa, Kansas, laboratory. The first students in this accelerated degree program began their studies in the spring semester of 2023.
By rethinking the structure of its existing didactic and experiential learning structure, NorthShore University HealthSystem’s MLS program, located at Evanston Hospital north of Chicago, doubled its enrollment capacity.
During the afternoon, working groups addressed ways that lab organizations can collaborate to increase recruitment and retention of laboratory scientists across all disciplines of lab medicine. This input was synthesized into action planning for the three priorities that can lead to expanding the lab workforce.
By day’s end, several working groups were organized with specific next steps. COLA is taking the lead in managing this initiative and giving it momentum. All clinical laboratory professionals and pathologists are welcome to participate in the Workforce Action Alliance (WAA). Anyone wishing to learn more can contact COLA by clicking here, calling 800-981-9883, or by visiting https://education.cola.org/contact-us-page.
Even US military clinical laboratories strive to cut costs, protect quality, and improve outcomes
Defense Health Agency (DHA), a part of the federal Department of Defense (DOD), recently launched a plan to consolidate healthcare facilities within certain geographical regions and to unify and integrate the military’s clinical laboratory operations in those areas. The goal is to streamline efficiencies and lower costs while maintaining quality lab testing services.
The DOD operates a nationwide network of medical treatment facilities (MTFs) that include state-of-the-art clinical and anatomic pathology laboratories serving military personnel and their families. These military labs face the same issues of cost, efficiency, and outcomes as do civilian clinical laboratories throughout the United States.
To address those challenges and bring together clinical laboratory services in specific regions, the DHA established the Tidewater Market in April of 2021 to serve select US Air Force, Army, and Navy MTFs in the Washington DC metro area, central North Carolina, Jacksonville, and coastal Mississippi.
Tidewater is the fifth Military Health System (MHS) market created to manage MTFs as they transition into the DHA.
Health.mil—a website maintained by the MHS as an informational resource for those it serves—describes the MHS as “one of America’s largest and most complex healthcare institutions, and the world’s preeminent military healthcare delivery operation.
“Our MHS saves lives on the battlefield, combats infectious disease around the world, and is responsible for providing health services through both direct care [at military hospitals and clinics known as ‘military treatment facilities’] and private sector care to approximately 9.6 million beneficiaries, composed of uniformed service members, military retirees, and family members,” Health.mil notes.
With 9.6 million beneficiaries, MHS is one of the largest healthcare service organizations operating in the United States.
“The establishment of this market provides a true opportunity to optimize healthcare for our beneficiaries by focusing on outcomes and access across the Tidewater market,” said Navy Rear Admiral Darin Via, MD, Tidewater market manager, in an MHS/DHA news release. “It also allows us to work towards standardization of processes, creating an easier environment for our patients to navigate within.” (Photo copyright: US Navy.)
Finding Efficiencies, Optimizing Clinical Laboratory Processes and Services
In an article outlining the Tidewater Market clinical laboratory initiative, Health.mil noted that “A market is a group of MTFs in one geographic area working together with its TRICARE partners, Veterans Affairs hospitals, other federal healthcare organizations, private sector teaching hospitals and medical universities, as well as other healthcare partners. Markets operate as a system to support the sharing of patients, staff, budget, and other functions across facilities to improve readiness and the delivery and coordination of health services.”
The Tidewater Market provides integrated, affordable, high-quality healthcare services to active-duty service members, military retirees, reservists and national guardsmen, and their families. The market currently serves more than 390,000 beneficiaries.
In 2022, the Tidewater Market Laboratory/Pathology Integration Working Group was created to optimize services while reducing costs within the market. The group was created by US Navy Captain Stacie Milavec, who has more than 23 years of experience in military medicine.
“One of DHA’s goals with setting up a market structure is to find efficiencies and optimize and standardize processes and services wherever possible,” Milavec said in an MHS/DHA news release. “We’ve been able to do exactly that by collaborating within our working group.”
Resource Sharing between Military Clinical Laboratories
The MTFs that are geographically close to each other helped expedite turnaround times for testing results. By working together, they saved the Tidewater Market an estimated $80,000 during fiscal year 2022.
One of the methods they used to streamline testing and lower costs was to allow resource sharing between facilities within the market. For example, the full-service clinical laboratory located at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) began performing head and neck pathology cases, breast biopsies, and PAP testing for some of the other facilities within the Tidewater Market. These services were previously performed by other means and in some cases were sent to commercially-contracted clinical laboratories for analysis at a high cost.
The NMCP also took on Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing for all MTFs within the market.
In February of 2023, NMCP began taking on additional clinical chemistry tests from the 633rd Medical Group at Joint Base Langley-Eustis located in Hampton, Virginia. Prior to that collaboration, those tests were sent out to contracted labs off-base for analysis.
“[Through collaboration between the MTFs] we’ve been able to successfully transition civilian marketplace send-out testing back into the military market by utilizing market resources,” said pathologist US Air Force Captain Dianna Chormanski, MD, Laboratory Medical Director with the 633rd Medical Group at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, in the press release. “I’m a big fan of cooperation and working together, and that’s what a market should be.”
The DHA established the market-based structure as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. It’s an example of regional laboratory consolidation within one region of the US where a common effort brought together clinical laboratories operating on military bases of different services. The military’s goal was a unified, integrated medical laboratory operation that could deliver targeted cost savings while maintaining quality lab testing services. It appears to be successful.
Factors contributing to shortage of med techs and other lab scientists include limited training programs in clinical laboratory science, pay disparity, and staff retention, notes infectious disease specialist Judy Stone, MD
Staff shortages are a growing challenge for medical laboratories, and now the problem has grabbed the attention of a major media outlet.
In a story she penned for Forbes, titled, “We’re Facing a Critical Shortage of Medical Laboratory Professionals,” senior contributor and infectious disease specialist Judy Stone, MD, wrote, “Behind the scenes at every hospital are indispensable medical laboratory professionals. They performed an estimated 13 billion laboratory tests in the United States each year before COVID. Since the pandemic began, they have also conducted almost 997 million diagnostic tests for COVID-19. The accuracy and timeliness of lab tests are critically important, as they shape approximately two-thirds of all medical decisions made by physicians.”
Though Stone states in her Forbes article that clinical laboratories in both the US and Canada are facing staff shortages, she notes that the problem is more acute in the US.
As Dark Daily reported in February, the so-called “Great Resignation” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on clinical laboratory staffs, creating shortages of pathologists as well as of medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians, and other lab scientists who are vital to the nation’s network of clinical laboratories.
In her analysis, however, Stone accurately observes that the problem pre-dates the pandemic. For examples she cites two surveys conducted in 2018 by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP):
Many pathologists and clinical laboratory managers would agree that Stone is right. Dark Daily has repeatedly reported on growing staff shortages at clinical laboratories worldwide.
And in “Lab Staffing Shortages Reaching Dire Levels,” Dark Daily’s sister publication, The Dark Report, noted that CAP Today had characterized the current lab staffing shortage as going “from simmer to rolling boil” and that demand for medical technologists and other certified laboratory scientists far exceeds the supply. Consequently, many labs now use overtime and temp workers to handle daily testing, a strategy that has led to staff burnout and more turnover.
“There is a critical shortage of medical laboratory professionals in the US, and in Canada to a lesser extent,” wrote infectious disease specialist Judy Stone, MD (above), in an article she penned for Forbes. “Here [in the US],” she added, “we are 20-25,000 short on staff, with only 337,800 practicing. That is roughly one medical laboratory scientist per 1,000 people.” Clinical laboratories are well aware of the problem. A solution to solve it and return labs to former staffing levels is proving elusive. (Photo copyright: Forbes.)
Why the Shortfall?
In her Forbes article, Stone notes the following as factors behind the shortages:
Decline in training programs. “There are only [approximately] 240 medical laboratory technician and scientist training programs in the US, a 7% drop from 2000,” Stone wrote, adding that some states have no training programs at all. She notes that lab technicians must have a two-year associate degree while it takes an average of five years of post-secondary education to obtain a lab science degree.
Pay disparities. Citing data from the ASCP, Stone wrote that “medical lab professionals are paid 40%-60% less than nurses, physical therapists, or pharmacists.” Moreover, given the high cost of training, “many don’t feel the salary is worth the high investment,” she added.
Staff retention. In the ASCP’s 2018 job satisfaction survey, 85.3% of respondents reported burnout from their jobs, 36.5% cited problems with inadequate staffing, and nearly that many complained that workloads were too high.
Inconsistent licensing requirements. These requirements “are different from state to state,” Stone wrote. For example, the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) notes that 11 states plus Puerto Rico mandate licensure of laboratory personnel whereas others do not. Each of those states has specific licensing requirements, and while most offer reciprocity for other state licenses, “California [for example] does not recognize any certification or any other state license.”
In a 2018 report, “Addressing the Clinical Laboratory Workforce Shortage,” the ASCLS cited other factors contributing to the shortages, including retirement of aging personnel and increased demand for lab services.
Possible Solutions
Stone suggested the following remedies:
Improve working conditions. “We need to reduce the stress and workload of the lab professionals before we reach a greater crisis,” Stone wrote.
Standardize state certification. This will facilitate “mobility of staff and flexibility in responding to needs,” Stone suggested.
Improve education and training opportunities. The ASCLS has called for clinical lab science to be included in the Title VII health professions program, which provides funding for healthcare training. Rodney Rohde, PhD, a clinical laboratory science professor at Texas State University, “also suggests outreach to middle and high school STEM programs, to familiarize students early with career opportunities in the medical laboratory profession,” Stone wrote.
Recruit foreign workers. Stone suggested this as an interim solution, with programs to help them acclimate to practice standards in the US.
It will likely take multiple solutions like these to address the Great Resignation and bring the nation’s clinical laboratory staffing levels back to full. In the meantime, across the nation, a majority of clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups operate short-staffed and use overtime and temporary workers as a partial answer to their staffing requirements.
