CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) Guidelines on Quality Control and Quality Assessment

This Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) training will be valuable to CLIA regulated, non-waived laboratories that run automated analyzers or semi-quantitative kit tests. It will highlight differences between quality control and quality assessment and the proper methods to meet CLIA guidelines.

Why Should You Attend:

All non-waived laboratories must have a QC and QA plan that meets CLIA’s regulations. CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) has updated its requirements for QC and QA. CLIA has replaced the term Quality Assurance with the term Quality Assessment. The new guidelines regarding QA specifically stress measuring quality through all aspects of the testing process. This includes pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical parts of the process as a whole. QA is now focused on measuring outcomes and developing actions based on findings. The Quality Control process has guidelines in place for all three levels of testing; Waived, Moderately Complex and High Complexity. QA must be assessed, not check listed. Without measurement of quality your lab is missing an important component of assure quality outcomes.

Attend this webinar to understand the differences and the proper methods to meet the guidelines. It is important to understand that measuring quality is essential to assess quality. The measurement of processes and the outcomes is the only way to truly assess quality.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Quality Assurance vs. Quality Assessment: Why the Change?
• The Three Phases of Testing.
• Quality Assessment Systems That Work.
• Quality Control: Principles and Practice.
• QC for Waived Testing: Is Minimum Enough?
• QC Formulas and Their Use.
• Why QC and QA are linked processes.
• Measurement indicators for QA.

Who Will Benefit:

This webinar will be valuable to CLIA regulated non-waived laboratories that run automated analyzers or semi-quantitative kit tests.All automated non-waived systems fall under these regulations. Employees who would benefit include:

• Chemistry and special chemistry supervisors and techs.
• Hematology and coagulation supervisors and techs.
• Blood bank supervisors and techs.
• Microbiology (automated) supervisors and techs
• Medical Technologists (MT)
• Medical Laboratory Technicians (MLT)
• Laboratory Directors
• Multiple Clinical Competency Technicians (MCCT)
• Clinical Lab Scientists (CLS)
• Point of Care (POC) Coordinators
• Medical supply reps
• Laboratory instrumentation specialist

Instructor Profile:

Barry Craig, Owner and CEO of Laboratory Consulting, LLC, has over 23 years of experience in laboratory management with a concentration on physician office labs. He was the POL & Clinic Coordinator for a major Birmingham Health System until 01/01/10. He managed 22, COLA accredited POL’s, half waived, half non-waived. He writes the “Ask the Expert” column in Physician Office Resource magazine answering lab related questions monthly. He also has been published in ADVANCE for Administrators of the Laboratory magazine. He is a regular faculty member for the COLA laboratory bi-annual symposiums and a regular speaker on lab related topics nationwide.