Skip to main content

Currently, there are 11 states and one territory with laboratory personnel licensure requirements (California, Hawaii, Florida, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, Nevada, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia and Puerto Rico). The components of the law vary state-to-state, but common to all states is the requirement of education/training and national certification.

The CMU MLT Program is accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). The program provides its graduates the ability to obtain national MLT certification through the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification (BOC), American Medical Technologists (AMT), and the American Association of Bioanalysts (AAB). The ASCP Board of Certification is recommended over other national certifications for the following reasons:

  • all states requiring national certification as part of their licensure requirements accept the ASCP exam,
  • not all states will accept national certification from the American Medical Technologists (AMT) and American Association of Bioanalysts (AAB) examinations,
  • the thirty-nine states without licensure laws primarily accept ASCP as a qualified credential to perform laboratory testing, and

Although the CMU MLT program provides the required education/training, as well as the ability for students to obtain national certification; students wishing to obtain licensure in a state should contact the state licensing board for any additional requirements such as licensing fees, criminal background checks, and continuing education requirements.

In Colorado, as other states without licensure, most laboratory facilities will require employees to be nationally certified to satisfy the laboratory accreditation requirements for qualified personnel to perform lab testing.