The 2026 ACLA Annual Meeting brought together public and private sector experts to share timely policy insights with more than 200 attendees, including representatives from member clinical laboratories, associate member diagnostics manufacturers, and patient organizations.
ACLA President Susan Van Meter opened the meeting by highlighting how policymakers in Washington, D.C. increasingly understand the critical role and value of clinical laboratories and the innovative services they provide to patients across the country.
Van Meter reflected on her recent appearance as a witness before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, where she testified on the need for passage of the RESULTS Act to achieve long-term stability of the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. Members of the committee voiced their support for the bill while emphasizing the importance of laboratory services to Medicare beneficiaries and patients nationwide.
The RESULTS Act continues to gain bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Van Meter thanked all ACLA members, associate members, and more than 60 patient and provider partners who have endorsed the bill for their collective efforts to urge Congress to pass RESULTS in 2026.
Van Meter also emphasized ACLA’s continued focus on expanding patient access to innovative, high-quality clinical laboratory services and ensuring that public policy reflects the essential role laboratory testing serves in keeping patients healthy, screening for disease, diagnosing illness, and informing critical health care decisions.
She concluded by sharing the latest creative from ACLA’s Power of Knowing campaign, which highlights the role of diagnostics as the GPS of health care.
Political and election experts Amy Walter and David Wasserman of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter shared their perspectives on political trends to watch, the evolving culture within Congress, and forecasts for the 2026 midterm elections.
The conversation explored shifting voter coalitions, the implications of narrow congressional majorities, and how health care issues including affordability, prevention, and public trust are shaping policy debates across both parties.
Attendees gained valuable insight into the political dynamics likely to influence legislative priorities in the coming year.
Eric Hargan, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the first Trump Administration and current CEO of The Hargan Group, joined Jane Lucas, former official in the Office of White House Counsel and current Partner at Alston & Bird, for a wide-ranging discussion on the federal health policy environment.
Lucas and Hargan reflected on the significant pace of health policy activity during the first year of the Trump Administration, emphasizing the Administration’s interest in voluntary collaboration with industry and streamlined regulatory approaches.
The conversation also touched on the growing role of technology in shaping public health engagement and the increasing recognition of diagnostics as a driver of disease prevention and cost-effective care.
ACLA Board Chair and President and CEO of Mayo Clinic Laboratories Dr. William Morice joined Axios Senior Tech Policy Reporter Ashley Gold for a conversation on the rapidly evolving policy and regulatory landscape surrounding artificial intelligence.
The discussion examined AI’s impact on the economy and workforce dynamics. It also explored the current regulatory environment, noting that agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Department of Justice (DOJ) are actively overseeing AI-related issues while policymakers debate whether additional federal structures may be needed in health care and other sectors.
Dr. Morice discussed ACLA’s response to the Administration’s request for information on AI and highlighted the role of the ACLA Innovation Advisory Forum in leading the association’s AI policy work.
Barb Liwosz, Director of Laboratory and Precision Medicine at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and Kate Berry, Senior Vice President at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), discussed evolving payer strategies related to prior authorization, coverage policy, and laboratory reimbursement. The session was moderated by Joyce Gresko, Partner at Alston & Bird and ACLA’s General Counsel.
Berry outlined AHIP’s work in advocacy, policy, and education, including a collaborative initiative with Blue Cross Blue Shield and other insurers to streamline prior authorization. These voluntary commitments focus on reducing friction by targeting prior authorization toward potentially overused services, reviewing covered services regularly, improving transparency, and using technology to accelerate and standardize decision-making.
Liwosz highlighted the complexity of laboratory reimbursement across independently operating Blue plans and discussed the role of laboratory benefit managers in policy implementation. She emphasized the importance of strong clinical evidence, thoughtful strategy, and early engagement when seeking coverage or contract discussions.
The panel reinforced that transparency, stakeholder collaboration, and strategic planning are essential as laboratories navigate an increasingly complex reimbursement and regulatory environment.
OPKO Health President and former Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Elias Zerhouni joined ACLA President Susan Van Meter for a conversation on leadership, innovation, and the future of biomedical research.
Dr. Zerhouni reflected on the major influences that shaped his career in medicine, industry, and government, which he chronicles in his memoir Disease Knows No Politics.
He also highlighted the extraordinary growth of U.S. biomedical research over the past five decades and noted that sustained federal investment through the NIH has positioned the United States as a global leader in scientific discovery.
Dr. Zerhouni emphasized that diagnostics now sit at the center of modern medicine, enabling increasingly precise detection and treatment of disease. He underscored the importance of maintaining the innovation ecosystem built on federal research funding, academic collaboration, venture investment, philanthropy, and industry innovation to ensure continued progress in patient care.
Senior bipartisan health staff from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee joined ACLA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Policy Laura Stevens Kent to discuss health policy priorities for the 119th Congress.
Panelists noted the current legislative focus on innovation and emphasized the importance of the recent health care package that included a short-term delay of payment cuts to the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule and required reporting of 2025 commercial market data beginning in May 2026 to establish rates for 2027.
They described the package as clearing the way for deeper work on a number of priorities, including foundational PAMA reform.
Panelists also highlighted strong congressional interest in policies that improve affordability in health care, responsibly leverage artificial intelligence, and address barriers to care caused by burdensome prior authorization policies.
Hilary Gee Goeckner, Director of State and Local Campaigns at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and Paul Sheives, Vice President of Government Affairs at Myriad Genetics, discussed advocacy efforts that have led to the passage of groundbreaking state biomarker laws.
The panel noted that biomarker legislation has now been enacted in 20 states and reflected on the growing bipartisan recognition of the role diagnostic testing plays in guiding treatment decisions and advancing precision medicine.
These laws generally require Medicaid and private insurers to cover biomarker testing for a range of diseases, helping ensure patients can access clinically appropriate tests without unnecessary delays or financial barriers.
Panelists also noted that gaps remain, particularly around Medicaid coverage and consistent implementation across states, and emphasized the importance of continued advocacy efforts.
Officials from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) joined Joan Kegerize, Vice President of Reimbursement and Scientific Affairs at ACLA, for a discussion on coding and rate-setting policies affecting clinical laboratories.
Zach Hochstetler, Vice President of CPT Coding and Payment at AMA, and Sarah Harding, Health Insurance Specialist at CMS, discussed the processes that influence Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule payment policy and how coding decisions are evaluated and finalized.
Harding also discussed upcoming requirements for laboratories to report commercial market data from the first half of 2025 beginning in May.
The session provided attendees with a clearer understanding of how coding accuracy, valuation methodologies, and payment policy intersect to shape laboratory reimbursement and patient access.
Amy Leiser, Special Counsel at Covington & Burling, joined laboratory leaders to discuss the future of regulation following the landmark ACLA v. FDA decision that vacated the FDA’s LDT final rule.
Panelists examined the evolving regulatory landscape and discussed how federal health agencies are reassessing oversight approaches for diagnostics.
The conversation also explored regulatory considerations for software and AI-enabled technologies and the need to update regulations implementing the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).
Speakers emphasized the importance of a predictable, balanced, and forward-looking regulatory framework that protects patients while fostering innovation in laboratory medicine.
Health care government relations experts joined Jane Lucas of Alston & Bird to discuss the legislative dynamics shaping health policy this year.
Lori Denham of KDCR Partners and Mark Rayder of Alston & Bird analyzed how midterm elections, appropriations negotiations, and broader fiscal pressures are influencing congressional health care initiatives.
They noted that in a constrained legislative environment, policy progress often depends on strategic timing, coalition building, and aligning priorities with broader legislative vehicles.
Speakers also highlighted the productive engagement ACLA continues to have with key health committees as it advances the RESULTS Act and other priorities.
They emphasized the importance of consistent engagement with policymakers and the role of trusted trade associations like ACLA in providing expertise, data, and policy solutions that inform legislative decision making.
