Hawaii Medical Laboratory Scientist Licensing Guide

Hawaii Lab License Overview

Hawaii licenses laboratory science as more than a single credential. Alongside the general clinical laboratory scientist license, it also recognizes:

• Specialty licenses: Clinical Laboratory Specialist; Cytotechnologist
• Limited or technician-level credential: Medical Laboratory Technician

A few other specialties are not licensed by the state at all, rather than carrying their own Hawaii license. The specialty section below covers each.

A license you hold in another state does not transfer automatically, so you apply to Hawaii's licensing program before your first assignment there.

Hawaii Lab License Requirements

The baseline below is Hawaii's general license. The specialty section covers the specialties that differ from it.

• State license required: Hawaii requires a state clinical laboratory personnel license to test patient specimens. This is the primary credential, separate from your employer's onboarding or the lab's CLIA certificate.
• Qualifying certification: confirm which certifying bodies Hawaii accepts (such as ASCP or AMT) before you apply.
• Credential required: National certification from a certifying agency acceptable to the department (e.g., ASCP). Qualifying education plus one year full-time clinical laboratory experience that includes a minimum of two months each in clinical chemistry, clinical microbiology, hematology, immunology, and immunohematology.
• Scope of the general license: Generalist clinical laboratory scientist license. Training spans all five core disciplines (chemistry, microbiology, hematology, immunology, immunohematology/blood banking), qualifying the holder to work across clinical laboratory specialty areas.
• Verification: ASCP or direct board verification.

Hawaii Lab License Fees and Credentials

Hawaii issues more than one laboratory credential, so fees vary by the license you hold. The table below is one row per state-recognized credential.

There is no state fee line for Phlebotomy / Phlebotomy Technician, because Hawaii does not license those separately.

Hawaii Lab License Renewal and CE

• Renewal cycle: every 2 years, in odd-numbered years.
• Continuing education: confirm the current Hawaii CE requirement with the board before renewal.

How to Get a Hawaii Lab License

In outline, applying takes these steps:

1. Confirm the qualifying certification or education Hawaii accepts for the license you want (the requirements above).
2. Arrange for the transcripts and certification verification the program asks for. Ask whether they must come directly from your school and certifying body.
3. Apply to Hawaii Department of Health through the application portal.
4. Arrange the verification the program asks for: ASCP or direct board verification.

Common slip-ups travelers hit here: incomplete verification submission: Applicants fail to submit verification through ASCP or directly from previous state board before application review, forcing board to request verification separately and adding 3-4 weeks to processing.

Hawaii Lab License Processing Time

Plan for roughly 6-8 weeks (10+ weeks possible with current licensing delays) for a clean application. Treat that as a planning number rather than a board-published guarantee.

Two things stretch the timeline for laboratory licensure. The state has to receive the verifications it asks for, such as certification verification from your certifying body and license verification from other states, and those hand-offs have their own latency. If you are applying for more than one credential, for example a generalist license plus a specialty license, they may process as separate items rather than in one pass.

Hawaii's lack of temporary licensure, combined with moderate processing delays (6-10+ weeks) and current departmental staffing constraints, makes short-notice placements high-risk. All assignments require permanent license before work begins.

Hawaii Lab Specialty Rules

Below is one subsection per credential that differs from the general Hawaii license, then roll-up lines for everything else.

Clinical Laboratory Specialist

Divergence: separate license. Single-discipline scientist license restricted to ONE laboratory specialty (the labeling examples it 'Technologist in Microbiology'). Recognized specialties include clinical chemistry, hematology, immunohematology/blood banking, microbiology, immunology, cytology, cytogenetics, histocompatibility, and molecular biology.

• Fee: $65 application, $30 renewal, every 2 years
• Credential: Bachelor's degree in a pertinent chemical or biological science plus one year of full-time clinical laboratory experience (or one year of accredited training) IN THE SPECIALTY for which licensure is sought, AND national certification approved for that specialty. Work experience must be in the specialty area sought

How it differs from the general license: Unlike the generalist Medical Technologist (which requires rotation across all five core disciplines), the Clinical Laboratory Specialist is a separately issued license confined to a single specialty discipline. The holder demonstrates education, experience, and certification only in that one discipline and is licensed to practice only within it.

Cytotechnologist

Divergence: separate license. Separately issued license for cytology, microscopic evaluation of cellular specimens (e.g., Pap tests). Distinct license category, not a sub-tier of the generalist Medical Technologist.

• Fee: $65 application, $30 renewal, every 2 years
• Credential: National certification as a Cytotechnologist from a certifying agency acceptable to the department, plus qualifying education

How it differs from the general license: A discipline-specific license for cytology rather than the broad generalist scope of the Medical Technologist. It is its own separately issued credential with its own certification pathway, not performed under the generalist license.

Medical Laboratory Technician

Divergence: limited-scope tier. Technician-level clinical laboratory credential below the technologist tier, built on an associate degree rather than a baccalaureate.

• Fee: $65 application, $30 renewal, every 2 years
• Credential: Associate degree from an accredited MLT program (or 60 semester hours of chemistry/biology plus an accredited MLT program or a qualifying 50+ week military medical laboratory specialist course), AND certification as a medical laboratory technician (or medical technologist) by a certifying agency acceptable to the department

How it differs from the general license: A lower-level credential than the generalist Medical Technologist: it is based on an associate degree (vs. a bachelor's) and reflects the technician tier of clinical laboratory practice rather than the full clinical-laboratory-scientist scope.

Phlebotomy / Phlebotomy Technician

Divergence: no state credential. Specimen collection / venipuncture.

How it differs from the general license: Hawaii does not issue a state license for phlebotomy. HAR 11-110.1-23 enumerates only five licensed clinical laboratory personnel categories, none of which is phlebotomist; phlebotomy is not a state-licensed credential in Hawaii.

Hawaii Licensing Board and Resources

Hawaii Department of Health

Board Website · Application Portal · License Verification

Phone: (808) 453-6652