Clinical Pathology Laboratories in the United States Face Tougher Accreditation and CLIA Environment
Federal and state laboratory regulators tighten down during inspections of nation’s medical laboratories
Across the United States, medical laboratory accreditation and CLIA compliance is quietly getting tougher. This is a trend which affects every clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology medical group that must comply with CLIA and meet the accreditation requirements of the Medicare program.
One sign that laboratory accreditation and compliance is getting tougher is the increased number of hospital laboratories willing to publicly acknowledge that a recent assessment, survey, or inspection resulted in serious deficiencies.
Federal and state clinical laboratory regulators are backing up tough talk about tighter enforcement of the requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) requirements. Over the past 18 months, Dark Daily is aware that two nationally-prominent medical laboratory companies—following CLIA inspections of certain lab facilities—were required to cease certain types of clinical testing until serious deficiencies were corrected. These consequences demonstrate that it is not just hospital laboratories feeling the brunt of more rigorous CLIA inspections.
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