The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently ruled that a BSN is equal to a bachelor’s degree in a biological science for high complexity testing personnel. What does this mean for nurses and for lab scientist?
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It sounds crazy but a vague ruling but the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services could be interpreted that way.
I have been discussing, with Clinical Laboratory Scientist's, what current communication between nursing and the lab is like and how we can improve this relationship. I have been working on trying to standardize blood collection across the continuum. During my research I found out that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently ruled that a Bachelor of Science in Nursing is the equivalent to a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science.
Here is an excerpt from that ruling:
Quote
"Bachelor Degree in Nursing: A bachelor's degree in nursing meets the requirement of having earned a bachelor's degree in a biological science for high complexity testing personnel. The laboratory may show a PSV report verifying that a bachelor's degree in nursing was earned, a diploma with the type of degree earned, or transcripts as evidence of meeting the education personnel requirement. An associate's degree in nursing meets the requirement of having earned an associate's degree in a biological science for moderate complexity testing personnel. The laboratory may show a PSV report verifying that an associate's degree in nursing was earned, a diploma with the type of degree earned, or transcripts as evidence of meeting the education personnel requirement. "
I don't understand why this was done and would like to learn more. Where better to gather information than here on allnurses? Therefore, I am asking for you to help me in identifying what this all means. Can we wear any more hats? Is this going to put more stress on a career that is already overloaded with responsibility? Does this mean a BSN can be a lab director? Does this mean that a BS in Biological Science can be a CNO, or ICU director? Is this another way of dealing with shortages by trying to combine resources? Doing more with less? Both nursing and the laboratory science field are experiencing shortages. This is a very confusing ruling. (view attached pdf)
I can tell you that the Clinical Laboratory Scientist community is not happy and would like our support. The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) is encouraging everyone that has an interest to sign a petition to get the CMS to reconsider its decision. For starters the ASCP says a biological science degree requires three to four times more academic science than does nursing. This CMS ruling seems to be a very broad ruling and deserves to be scrutinized. This can cause a rift between nursing and the lab if the reasons for the ruling are not spelled out.
The ASCP Board of Certification (BOC) has been talking with staff from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about this decision. The CMS memo does not provide a rationale or justification regarding this decision. The BOC communications are on behalf of the Board of Governors (BOG), whose member institutions include:
ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathology)
American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC)
American Association of Pathologists' Assistants (AAPA)
Association of Genetic Technologists (AGT)
American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS)
American Society of Cytopathology (ASC)
American Society of Hematology (ASH)
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
AABB
Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA)
National Society for Histotechnology (NSH)
They are taking this very serious so it makes me think it deserves a good looking at. I wonder what the impact will be for nurses. With your help we can formulate what this ruling may mean to nursing and what potential impact this will have. In my limited research I can't find where the American Nurses Association, Nursing Boards, Nursing Unions etc. have weighed in on this subject. I don't think this subject matter has been exposed enough and may not be on their radar yet.
Have you heard about this? Has this affected your job? What do you think?
