Mohs technicians — and the compliance that has to stand behind them
An in-office Mohs lab runs on one bench and, usually, one person. BMCA places qualified Mohs technicians, documents them the way CLIA expects, and keeps the lab defensible when that person is on vacation, out sick, or gone — for dermatology practices nationwide.
Talk to us about coverageA team that has done this 110 times over
Mohs staffing is not a general medical-staffing problem with a histology label on it. It is a narrow discipline — frozen sections at speed, in a high-complexity CLIA laboratory, inside a practice that is mid-surgery while you work. Our team has set up and managed more than 110 Mohs labs across the country, which is where the protocols, the documentation and the judgment on this page come from.
110+ Mohs labs
Set up and managed by our team across the United States — new builds, rescues and takeovers.
20+ years
Two decades servicing the cryostats, microtomes and staining lines these labs run on.
60+ practices
Dermatology offices served by BMCA, plus 18+ histology and dermatopathology labs.
Client practices in California · Texas · New York · Michigan · Ohio · Georgia · Florida · Kansas · North Dakota · Puerto Rico · Cayman Islands
Coast to coast, plus the territories and the Caribbean — the protocols travel, and so do we.
Your surgery day depends on one person
A dermatology practice can carry a full Mohs schedule with a single histotechnician cutting and staining behind the wall. It works until it doesn't. The tech gives notice, takes leave, or calls out on a Tuesday with eight stages booked — and the practice discovers that the schedule, the revenue, and the quality record all rested on one seat.
The compliance exposure is quieter and it lasts longer. Mohs frozen sections are high-complexity testing under CLIA. Whoever performs them must meet the testing-personnel qualifications in 42 CFR 493.1489 — documented in the file, before the first case — and must be competency-assessed on a defined schedule. When procedures live in one person's head instead of on paper, their departure takes the lab's memory with it, and a survey is the moment you find out.
What we handle
- Qualified Mohs technicians placed permanently, temporarily, or per diem
- Vacation, leave and call-out coverage so surgery days continue
- CLIA personnel files, qualification records and competency assessment
- Written procedures, QC and temperature logs, records built for survey day
- Training and competency for staff you already employ, where they qualify
- Cryostat, microtome, staining line and refrigeration service under one agreement
Technician placement, training, competency programs and documentation are available nationwide — and internationally for surgeons who operate outside the US. On-site equipment service and calibration are delivered directly across Florida and Puerto Rico, and coordinated elsewhere so the records stay consistent with the rest of your program. See also Mohs lab equipment & CLIA and inspection readiness.
Four ways practices use us
Permanent placement
We source, screen and document a Mohs histotechnician for your bench — qualification pathway verified against CLIA before day one, not after.
Leave & vacation coverage
Planned absences covered by a technician who already knows the protocol, so the schedule stays booked and your tech actually takes the time off.
Hired by the Mohs day
Book the days you operate — four a week, one a month, or block days on travel — without adding a permanent salary to the practice.
Train your own staff
Where an existing employee can meet the CLIA pathway, we train them on your bench, on your cases, and document the training and competency properly.
Risk & documentation review
A file-by-file review of personnel records, procedures, logs and equipment documentation against what surveyors actually ask to see.
The bench itself
Cryostat PM and repair, microtome, staining line, microscope, refrigeration and electrical safety — serviced and certified by the same team.
One agreement, one accountable partner — no coordinating between a staffing agency, a service vendor and a compliance consultant who each blame the other two. Available nationwide; on-site equipment service direct in Florida and Puerto Rico.
When the tech is out, the schedule shouldn't be
Cancelling a Mohs day costs more than a day. It moves patients with confirmed skin cancers, pushes the surgeon's calendar into the following month, and sends the referral somewhere else. Coverage is the cheapest insurance in the practice — and we run it from Miami to Michigan, California to North Dakota.
Planned coverage
Vacations, parental leave, a scheduled departure, or the notice you just received. Give us the dates and we assign a technician who is briefed on your protocol before arrival.
Short-notice absence
A call-out the morning of surgery gets triaged the same day. We tell you honestly whether we can cover the date, rather than leaving the practice waiting on a maybe.
Bridge while you hire
A seat that takes months to fill doesn't have to close the lab. We cover the interval and, if you want, run the search for the permanent hire at the same time — in your market, wherever that is.
Coverage only works if the lab is documented. A visiting technician needs a current written procedure, a working cryostat, and logs that show the instrument is in control — which is exactly what we build while your lab is running normally. Coverage and compliance are the same project.
Hired by the Mohs day
You do not have to carry a histotechnician on payroll to run a compliant Mohs lab. Book us for the days you actually operate — the schedule you already keep — and pay for those days. Practices use us at every cadence:
4 days a week
A full surgical schedule with a dedicated technician on your bench for every operating day.
2 days a week
The most common pattern — fixed surgery days, the same technician, protocols that don't drift.
1 day a week
One standing Mohs day, staffed and documented, without a full-time salary on the books.
1 day every two weeks
Lower volume covered properly, with the lab kept survey-ready between operating days.
1 day a month
A monthly block, with the cryostat, logs and documentation maintained in the weeks in between.
Travel & block days
For surgeons operating away from home base — including a Cayman Islands practice we cover roughly every two months, about 15–20 cases per visit.
Fewer operating days does not mean lighter compliance. A lab that runs one day a month is held to the same CLIA standard as one running four days a week, and an idle cryostat still needs temperature records, maintenance and a current procedure manual. Booking us by the day covers both halves: a qualified technician on the day, and a lab that stays defensible between them.
Tell us your cadence — weekly, biweekly, monthly, or block days on travel — and we will quote it that way.
Where in-office Mohs labs get caught
These are the recurring exposures we look for in a Mohs risk review. Most of them are documentation problems, not clinical ones — and most of them are cheaper to fix before an unannounced survey than after a deficiency.
Personnel qualification not documented
The technician may well qualify. If the transcript, training record or qualification pathway isn't in the file, the lab can't prove it on the day it's asked.
42 CFR 493.1489 · updated Dec 28, 2024Competency assessment missed or thin
Six elements are required for high-complexity testing — semiannually in the first year, annually after. A signed checklist with no evidence behind it is a common finding.
Competency recordsNo current written procedure manual
The technique lives in the tech's hands and nowhere else. When they leave, the practice cannot show how the test is performed, and the next tech invents their own version.
Procedure manualQC and temperature logs with gaps
Cryostat temperatures, refrigerator and reagent storage, stain QC — logged some weeks, not others. Gaps read as an uncontrolled process, whatever the slides look like.
Quality controlEquipment maintenance undocumented
A serviced cryostat with no certificate, label or record is, to a surveyor, an unserviced cryostat. Maintenance and calibration records have defined retention windows.
Equipment recordsSpecimen identification and safety
Labeling and accessioning at the bench, formalin and xylene handling, PPE, sharps, exposure plan and SDS access — small items that become findings under both CLIA and OSHA.
Specimen handling · OSHAWhat we put in place
A Mohs risk-management program, built once and then maintained on a schedule — so readiness is a standing condition rather than a week of panic before a survey.
BMCA supports your laboratory — it does not replace it. Under CLIA, your laboratory director and technical supervisor remain responsible for the lab, and the practice holds its own CLIA certificate. Our role is to supply qualified personnel and build the evidence that supports them.
Questions practices ask first
Can we hire you just for our Mohs days?
We only run one Mohs day a month. Is that worth it?
Do you work outside Florida and Puerto Rico?
Does a Mohs technician have to meet CLIA personnel requirements?
How quickly can you cover a surgery day?
Do you take over as our laboratory director?
Can you train our medical assistant to cut Mohs sections?
What does competency assessment actually involve?
We're opening a new Mohs lab. Can you do the whole thing?
Tell us about your bench.
Coverage need, an open seat, or a lab you're not certain would survive a survey — start with a short conversation and a no-obligation readiness review. Practices nationwide.