Voluntary accreditation program for public health laboratories

In response to a national movement to develop a voluntary accreditation program for public health agencies, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) has take a lead in evaluating the need for a voluntary accreditation program for public health laboratories. The purpose of this program is to focus on the laboratory operations and functions and evaluate how well the laboratory performs those functions within the larger public health system it supports. The program plans to integrate existing domestic and international standards for quality management systems and organizational performance standards with standards development for the Core Functions of Public Health Laboratories to develop standards for public health laboratories. Accreditation is a relevant means for continuous quality improvement for the laboratory organization —an incentive for laboratories to reach for “gold” standards and goals that voluntarypublic health laboratory accreditation plan to achieve are: *A framework to maintain and enhance the concept of a public health laboratory system at the national, state and local levels. * A greater harmonization of public health laboratories and systems. *A better understanding of the laboratory's role and participation within the public health system. * A program to help laboratories measure the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations. APHL has begun working with the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) in integrating public health laboratory accreditation into the broader public health agency accreditation efforts at the national level. PHAB convened a Think Tank with APHL to discuss this process, and the outcome and proposed future activities will be part of this presentation.