Medical Laboratory Personnel Shortage Relief Act Reintroduced to Combat Workforce Crisis
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.”
—Janette Wider
