Given this year will see the 70th anniversary of the founding of American Medical Technologists (AMT), it seems an appropriate time to provide an update to readers on recent activities and developments within our venerable yet dynamic organization.

AMT has not traditionally been an organization expending excessive energy tooting its own horn or seeking the limelight. We have instead quietly but diligently worked to help ensure America's patients that they receive clinical lab services provided by competent practitioners through our professional certification programs, and to provide educational, membership and advocacy services to those MTs, MLTs, phlebotomists and other allied health specialists we have certified. This quiet diligence does not always translate into sensational newspaper headlines, so this article is written in the spirit of reminding the laboratory community of our organization's state.

Growth
AMT maintains six exam-based allied health professional certification programs-all accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, plus two portfolio-based programs. The overall size of AMT's total allied health certificant active membership in good standing, nearly half of whom are registered medical assistants, currently stands at 41,268. This is an increase of 58 percent over the 26,268 membership total in 2001. Certified MT membership during the same time period increased from 7,695 to 11,345 (47 percent), MLT membership increased from 1,270 to 1,675 (32 percent), and registered phlebotomy technician (RPT) total active certified membership increased from 1,648 to 4,367-a whopping 164 percent increase.

In terms of exams administered, see the Table for the numbers comparing 2001 to 2007.

TABLE: AMT EXAMS ADMINISTERED

Table/courtesy Christopher Damon

Cooperation With State Licensure Authorities
In all its allied health certification activities, AMT has established cooperative relationships with state level regulators of healthcare professionals. AMT's certification exams are widely recognized by state licensure authorities. Increasingly, state governments are no longer interested in developing and maintaining their own licensure exams and instead are in effect delegating this task to private certification agencies like AMT.

Interaction With Other Lab Orgs
AMT has a long history of cooperative engagement with other national associations representing clinical laboratory professionals. We are actively engaged in the coordination of legislative advocacy efforts with the Washington, DC-based Clinical Laboratory Coalition, have been involved with the Coordinating Council on Clinical Laboratory Workforce since its inception, are participants in the Levels of Practice Task Force, and have supportive involvement with the "Results for Life" advocacy coalition.

AMT is a sponsoring member of the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute, and also of the Abbott Laboratories "Labs Are Vital" initiative. And the organization is a regular participant in the annual meetings and trade shows of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association, American Association for Clinical Chemistry, American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, Society for Armed Forces Medical Laboratory Services and the Philippine Association of Medical Technologists.

Uniqueness
Two things set AMT apart from other clinical laboratory associations. The first is unlike any of the others: AMT is both a certification organization as well as a membership association. This means on one hand we have a fully-accredited, long-running certification testing program, including a full-time PhD psychometrician on staff, item-writing committees, an autonomous Education, Qualifications and Standards Committee constructing our exam forms, and test-delivery by way of the computer-testing facilities of Pearson VUE.

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