The Puerto Rico Clinical Laboratories Association (ALCPR) announced an affiliation with the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) to strengthen the island's voice in federal health-policy debates. The partnership seeks to combine ACLA's national advocacy with Puerto Rico's push for a permanent fix to the island's Medicaid financing formula, which faces a steep drop in federal support in 2027.
ALCPR will also join ACLA in urging Congress to pass the bipartisan RESULTS Act, which would replace the current data-reporting system under the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) with a new database built from private-insurance claims, aiming to prevent further cuts to Medicare lab reimbursement rates. ALCPR president Felipe Cintrón said the affiliation gives Puerto Rico direct access to the data and officials needed to defend fair reimbursement and preserve access to health services.
He noted that the same structural issues — reimbursement rates disconnected from real costs and market data — have driven cuts locally. A 2023 economic study commissioned by ALCPR found Medicare Advantage laboratory rates in Puerto Rico fell nearly 30 percent between 2012 and 2022, even as insurance premiums rose more than 40 percent.