The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Ethel Lund Medical Center clinical laboratory recently passed an unannounced accreditation inspection from COLA.
COLA (formerly known as the Commission On Laboratory Accreditation, http://www.cola.org/) conducts unannounced inspections every two years to ensure clinical laboratory operations maintain a high level of quality service.
“Studies have shown that laboratory data is used by providers in 70 percent of all diagnosis and treatment decisions for patients,” stated John Perry, SEARHC Ethel Lund Medical Center Clinical Laboratory Manager, in a release. “This type of unannounced inspection helps assure the public that the laboratory data used in their treatment is accurate and of the highest quality possible.”
During the accreditation process, inspectors examine the laboratory’s records and quality control procedures from the previous two years. Inspectors also examine the entire staff’s qualifications, the laboratory’s equipment, facilities, safety program and record, as well as the overall management of the laboratory.
Comments (2)
Add commentIts actually CLIA that matters
http://www.cms.gov/clia/
COLA helps laboratories get ready for the CLIA accreditation. In no way does COLA accreditation correlate with official accreditation and compliance with CLIA. COLA accreditation is voluntary and only a beginning step in meeting the quality standards that Bartlett Regional Hospital Laboratory has consistently met for years and years as a CLIA accredited facility. BRH has proudly hung their CLIA certificate for public review for years.
@Concerned Citizen
Concerned, Actually all laboratories in the US must meet criteria set forth by CLIA and display their CLIA certificate. CLIA requires that labs be inspected for compliance every two years. Each lab has a choice as to which CLIA approved accreditation company they wish to use. Labs can also choose to be inspected directly by CLIA itself. BRH is not inspected by CLIA, but chooses to use College of American Pathologist (CAP). COLA itself was just inspected by CLIA within the last two years and approved to perform accreditation inspections for the next ten years. All labs achieving COLA Accreditation are considered to be CLIA compliant by CLIA. Your suggestion that COLA accreditation is not compliant with CLIA regulations is quite frankly wrong and is insulting to the hard working caring individuals at ELMC.