This is a companion article to the feature, “Peer-Reporting Programs for Lab Quality.”

Under the requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), clinical laboratories are required to participate in an approved proficiency testing program that supplies testing samples to challenge and score the performance of the laboratory. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services maintains the list of proficiency testing programs, which are approved annually.1 Below is the list of approved proficiency testing programs for 2017.

Accutest Inc
American Academy of Family Physicians Proficiency Testing                    Program
American Association of Bioanalysts
American Proficiency Institute
American Society for Clinical Pathology
College of American Pathologists
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health
Medical Laboratory Evaluation Program
Puerto Rico Proficiency Testing Service
Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene

Each program is approved to conduct testing in specified subspecialties belonging to one or more of the following specialty areas: chemistry, cytology, diagnostic immunology, hematology, immunohematology, and microbiology. Not every program is approved for every specialty and subspecialty.

Reference

  1. CLIA approved proficiency testing programs, 2017 [online]. Baltimore: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2017. Available at: www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/clia/downloads/ptlist.pdf. Accessed August 29, 2017.