Laboratory Compliance
Laboratory compliance is the ongoing effort of clinical labs to meet certain standards of practice set by various government agencies. Most prominent of these are the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), which establish Quality Assurance (QA) standards for all laboratory testing to ensure the accuracy, reliability and timeliness of patient test results regardless of where the test was performed.
CLIA requires clinical laboratories to be certified by their state as well as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) before they can accept human samples for diagnostic testing. Laboratories can obtain multiple types of CLIA certificates, based on the kinds of diagnostic tests they conduct.
Certification is also required to receive reimbursements from Medicare or Medicaid.
CLIA 88 requires Quality Assurance assessment of all labs for these QA standards:
- Patient test management
- Quality control
- Proficiency testing
- Test comparisons
- Relate results to clinical data
- Personnel
- Communications
- Complaints
- Staff review
- Records
These QA standards for laboratory compliance encompass a range of activities that enable laboratories to achieve and maintain high levels of accuracy and proficiency despite changes in test methods and the volume of specimens tested. According to the CDC, good QA system achieves these four things:
- Establishes standard operating procedures (SOPs) for each step of the laboratory testing process, ranging from specimen handling to instrument performance validation
- Defines administrative requirements, such as mandatory recordkeeping, data evaluation, and internal audits to monitor adherence to SOPs
- Specifies corrective actions, documentation, and the persons responsible for carrying out corrective actions when problems are identified
- Sustains high-quality employee performance
Three federal agencies are responsible for CLIA and laboratory compliance: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Each agency has a unique role in assuring quality laboratory testing.
FDA
- Categorizes tests based on complexity
- Reviews requests for Waiver by Application
- Develops rules/guidance for CLIA complexity categorization
CMS
- Issues laboratory certificates
- Collects user fees
- Conducts inspections and enforces regulatory compliance
- Approves private accreditation organizations for performing inspections, and approves state exemptions
- Monitors laboratory performance on Proficiency Testing (PT) and approves PT programs
- Publishes CLIA rules and regulations
CDC
- Provides analysis, research, and technical assistance
- Develops technical standards and laboratory practice guidelines, including standards and guidelines for cytology
- Conducts laboratory quality improvement studies
- Monitors proficiency testing practices
- Develops and distributes professional information and educational resources
- Manages the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC)
CMS Report, News Stories Describe Pathology Issues
CEO SUMMARY: In response to information the pathology lab staff provided to the hospital’s risk manager last fall, and following a federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inspection in February, the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is taking corrective action to fix serious…
Response to FDA’s Gottlieb on Reducing Regulatory Burden
IN PREPARED REMARKS at a clinical lab industry meeting last month, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, outlined steps the federal Food and Drug Administration would take to reduce the regulatory burden on labs that develop next-generation gene sequencing and lab-developed tests. He …
FDA’s Gottlieb Favors Flexibility with LDTs, NGS
CEO SUMMARY: FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the FDA wants to reduce the regulatory burden on developers of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and laboratory-developed tests (LTDs). He also wants to give the FDA more flexibility in how it conducts clinical analysis and validation. To d…
Insights from Jury Verdict in HDL, BlueWave Case
CEO SUMMARY: After a two-week trial, the executives of Health Diagnostic Laboratories and BlueWave Healthcare Consultants were found guilty of violating the federal False Claims Act. Defendants Tonya Mallory, Floyd Calhoun Dent III, and Robert Bradford Johnson were ordered to pay the Unit…
Use of ‘1099 Marketers’ and Lab Compliance Risk
CEO SUMMARY: Experts in lab compliance predict that clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups must anticipate tougher enforcement of federal and state laws this year. One source of increased compliance risk for lab companies is the rising use of third-party marketing agreements….
NILA: CLIA Proposal Doesn’t Address Flaws
CEO SUMMARY: For many years, NILA has urged the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make significant changes in CLIA regulations. Yet, in its recent request for information, CMS addressed five specific areas. But the federal agency left out the need for a comprehensive o…
After Two Decades, CMS Wants to Update CLIA Lab Regulations
IN THE FIRST EFFORT OF ITS kIND in more than two decades, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a request for information (RFI) in the Federal Register as a first step to revise the CLIA rules it promulgated in 1992. Over the years, CMS has made some m…
Lab Scheme Recruits Hospitals To Bill as In-Network Providers
CEO SUMMARY: Management companies using a new generation of potentially fraudulent schemes are targeting hospitals and health systems for arrangements that use questionable means to increase lab test volume and revenue. The management companies often use the term “hospital outpatient de…
Drug Testing Labs in Texas, California Deal With Fraud Charges
CEO SUMMARY: Two toxicology lab companies accused of fraud are fighting to stay in business. In the case of Medicus Laboratories of Dallas, it is asking a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent state and federal lab regulators from pulling its CLIA license. At Pro…
Pathologist’s Error and Hospital’s Cover-up Lead to CMS Investigation
CEO SUMMARY: In the latest chapter of an explosive case at the University of Kansas Medical Center that includes claims of a cancer misdiagnosis, an unnecessary surgery, and a cover-up that involves the former chair of pathology, the patient has sued for fraud, negligence, and civil consp…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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