ACLA Statement on the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following Senate passage of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, ACLA President Julie Khani released the following statement:
ACLA commends Congress for recognizing the need to substantially increase funding and support for testing in the most recent COVID-19 legislative package. This is an important step to provide states, federal agencies and the clinical laboratory community with the resources to further scale testing in response to the unprecedented need presented by the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Federal and state public health officials and business leaders across industries all agree that wide-scale molecular and serologic testing is vital to reopening the country and protecting the health of Americans. ACLA urges HHS to quickly provide clarity on how the funding will be allocated to support hotspots and high-risk populations, as well as broader efforts to increase high throughput testing nationwide. Continued support and funding for high throughput testing from commercial, hospital and academic laboratories is essential to achieve both of these goals.
ACLA is committed to working with Congress, the Administration and Governors to ensure that we can adequately expand America’s testing capacity, protect public health and support the reopening of our economy.
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ACLA is a not-for-profit association representing the nation’s leading clinical and anatomic pathology laboratories, including national, regional, specialty, hospital, ESRD and nursing home laboratories. The clinical laboratory industry employs nearly 295,000 people directly, and generates over 117,000 additional jobs in supplier industries. Clinical laboratories are at the forefront of personalized medicine, driving diagnostic innovation and contributing more than $106 billion to the nation’s economy.
