Approximately 96% of government laboratories made these reductions because of
the recent economic downturn.
APHL estimates government laboratories nationwide have seen their budgets cut by
approximately $39 million or $405,000 on average.
Laboratories nationwide either laid-off or left unfilled an estimated 429 full-time
employees/positions and expect to see another 246 layoffs/unfilled positions in
2009.
Eighty-four percent of government laboratories were forced to reduce their spending
on much-needed supplies and equipment. The average reduction was around $142,000
per laboratory, or an estimated $14 million nationwide.
To manage these spending reductions, governmental laboratories have done the following:
- 1. Closed entire divisions within their laboratory and reduced the scope of other divisions.
- 2. Frozen compensation and benefits for existing positions.
- 3. Eliminated or reduced both in-state and out of state travel.
- 4. Delayed and deferred the purchase and maintenance of equipment.
- 5. Undergone monthly furlough days.
Understandably, these budget actions are also causing reductions in services for West Nile virus, food safety testing, respiratory virus testing, HIV oral fluid testing, environmental testing, blood lead testing, hepatitis A, B, C testing, radiation chemistry, water microbiology, the number of samples tested for food safety, as well as increasing the time required to produce laboratory results.
But the much larger impact is how these service reductions impact the public’s health by reducing the probability of finding a contaminated food product based on testing of high risk food; decreased surveillance of public health risk issues; and increased costs as testing, especially environmental testing, is shifted to the private sector. Overall, the laboratories are less prepared to respond to a large infectious disease, food or water-borne disease outbreak. This is an unacceptable position, and it must be addressed immediately.