The problem: The Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) has faced cumulative Medicare reimbursement cuts that are pushing portable diagnostic laboratory services to a breaking point. For skilled nursing and long-term care residents, many of whom are frail, immobile, or medically complex, portable lab services aren't a luxury. They are often the only way a patient can receive timely diagnostic testing without the added burden, cost, and clinical risk of being transported off-site. 

This model exists specifically for these patients. Our members send trained technicians directly to the nursing facility, collect the sample from the resident bedside, transport them to the lab for analysis, and deliver results to the care team, usually the same day. That same-day turnaround directly informs care decisions for some of Medicare's most vulnerable beneficiaries. Cuts to the CLFS threaten every part of that model. 

What's at stake: If Congress fails to act, long-term care facilities and their residents will face: 

• Fewer mobile lab technicians available to serve their community,
• A shrinking menu of available tests, limiting what clinicians can order,
• Longer wait times for results, delaying critical treatment decisions—often a decision whether a resident needs to be re-admitted to the hospital,
• Residents being forced off-site for routine blood draws — adding unnecessary risk and burden to some of the most vulnerable patients in the Medicare program.

These pressures are compounded by inflation, ongoing supply chain constraints, and a tight labor market that is already straining portable lab operations nationwide. 

The solution: Congress must pass H.R. 5269/S. 2761 — the Reforming and Enhancing Sustainable Updates to Laboratory Testing Services (RESULTS) Act — to halt further cuts to the CLFS and establish a sustainable reimbursement framework that reflects the true cost of delivering portable diagnostic services to long-term care patients. 

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