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College of American Pathologists
AbbreviationCAP
TypeNGO
Legal status501(c)(6) Nonprofit
PurposePhysician Membership, Advocacy, Laboratory Improvement, and Laboratory Accreditation
HeadquartersNorthfield, Illinois
MembershipApproximately 19,000
President
Donald Karcher, MD, FCAP
CEO
Michael Fraser
StaffApproximately 650
Websitehttp://www.cap.org/

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) is a member-based physician organization founded in 1946 comprising approximately 18,000 board-certified pathologists. It serves patients, pathologists, and the public[1] by fostering and advocating best practices in pathology and laboratory medicine.[2]

It is the world's largest association composed exclusively of pathologists certified by the American Board of Pathology,[3] and is widely considered the leader in laboratory quality assurance. The CAP is an advocate for high-quality and cost-effective medical care.[4] The CAP currently inspects and accredits medical laboratories under authority from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Their standards have been called "the toughest and most exacting in the medical business."[5] The CAP provides resources and guidance to laboratories seeking accreditation in programs for biorepositories, genomics, ISO 15189, and more.[6] In November 2008, Piedmont Medical Laboratory of Winchester, Virginia became the first laboratory in the United States[7] to be officially accredited under ISO 15189.

The CAP provides accreditation and proficiency testing to medical laboratories through its laboratory quality solutions programs. Early versions of proficiency testing—known as surveys—which laboratories use to help test and ensure accuracy, were first initiated in 1949. Laboratories first began receiving CAP accreditation in 1964,[8] and the organization was later given authority to accredit medical laboratories as a result of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988.[9]

The CAP publishes checklists containing requirements pertaining to the performance of laboratory tests. The All Common Checklist (COM) contains a core set of requirements that apply to all areas performing laboratory tests and procedures.[10] Some requirements exist in both the COM checklist and in a discipline-specific checklist, but with a different checklist note that has a more specific requirement. In these situations, the discipline-specific requirement takes precedence over the COM requirement.[10] The COM checklist also describes the requirements for analytical validation/verification of the method performance specifications (i.e. accuracy, precision, reportable range) that laboratories must perform for each test, method, or instrument system before use in patient testing.[10] CAP has also created programs that look at the frequency of errors throughout laboratory testing, including Q-Probes and Q-Tracks.[11] CAP's Q-Probes studies aim to describe errors at different stages of testing; pre-analytic, analytic, and post-analytic.[11] In order to reduce the frequency of errors occurring at the different stages of testing, performance measures have been put in place in order to improve patient safety.[11] CAP has created a database to record the error rates seen from more than 130 inter-laboratory studies.[12]

The CAP opened a Washington, DC, office in 1970[8] and advocating for pathology in a legal and policy-oriented capacity remains a core mission of the organization, both through direct action and programs that connect pathologists to legislators.[13]

The CAP Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the organization and is classified as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity. Its flagship program, See, Test & Treat, partners with hospitals and clinicians to provide free cancer and HPV screening, as well as educational events, to underserved communities. The program served over 900 women in 2017.[14]

Minimum periods of retention

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CAP[15] and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments.[16] have written policies for the minimum period of that laboratories should keep laboratory records and materials, with some examples as follows:

Microscopy slides Histology and non-forensic autopsy 10 years[16]
Forensic autopsy Indefinite[16]
Cytology, fine needle aspiration 10 years[15]
Cytology, apart from fine needle aspiration 5 years[16]
Paraffin-embedded blocks Non-forensic 2[16] or 10 years[15]
Forensic Indefinite[16]
Requisition form and test report Pathology reports 10 years[16]
Other 2 years[16]
Blood bank records Quality control records 5 years[15]
Donor and recipient records 10 years[15]
Records of indefinitely deferred donors Indefinite[15]
Wet tissues Until report is completed[16] or 2 weeks thereafter[15]
Proficiency testing records and quality management/quality control records 2 years[16]
Discontinued procedures 2 years[16]
Blood smears and other body fluid smears, microbiology slides (including Gram stains) 7 days[15]
Flow cytometry plots 10 years[15]

See also

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Further reading

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  • Bachner, Paul (2021). In further pursuit of excellence: the college of American pathologists 1946-2020 (PDF) (1st ed.). Northfield: College of American Pathologists. ISBN 978-1-941096-61-1.

References

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  1. ^ "Annual Report - College of American Pathologists". Annual Report - College of American Pathologists. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  2. ^ "College Of American Pathologists (CAP) Releases 2016 Annual Report Detailing Progress With Improving Patient Care, Advocating For The Specialty, And Advancing Quality". Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  3. ^ "American Board of Pathology". www.abpath.org.
  4. ^ "CAP - Advocacy - NEWS - Oklahoma Spine". Archived from the original on 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  5. ^ "16 Jul 1989, 28 - The Signal at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  6. ^ "The Joint Commission and SGS Now Offer Hospitals Coordinated Program for Medicare Accreditation and ISO 9001 Certification | Dark Daily". www.darkdaily.com. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  7. ^ "First Two Laboratories in U.S. Earn ISO 15189 Accreditation". February 13, 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Historical Timeline | College of American Pathologists". College of American Pathologists. College of American Pathologists. 2018-11-08. Retrieved 2018-11-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ "Announcement of the Re-Approval of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) as an Accreditation Organization Under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988". Federal Register. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  10. ^ a b c "All Common Checklist, CAP Accreditation Program" (PDF). www.cap.org. College of American Pathologists. 2015-07-28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Howanitz, Peter J. (2005-10-01). "Errors in Laboratory Medicine: Practical Lessons to Improve Patient Safety". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 129 (10): 1252–1261. doi:10.5858/2005-129-1252-EILMPL. ISSN 1543-2165. PMID 16196513.
  12. ^ Wagar, Elizabeth A.; Tamashiro, Lorraine; Yasin, Bushra; Hilborne, Lee; Bruckner, David A. (2006-11-01). "Patient Safety in the Clinical Laboratory: A Longitudinal Analysis of Specimen Identification Errors". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 130 (11): 1662–1668. doi:10.5858/2006-130-1662-PSITCL. ISSN 1543-2165. PMID 17076528.
  13. ^ "11 Dec 2005, Page 124 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  14. ^ "Annual Report - College of American Pathologists". Annual Report - College of American Pathologists. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i "CAP Policy Manual - Policy PP. Minimum Period of Retention of Laboratory Records and Materials" (PDF). CAP.org. Adopted August 1995. Revised September 2020
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "42 CFR § 493.1105 - Standard: Retention requirements". Cornell Law School. [68 FR 3703, Jan. 24, 2003; 68 FR 50723, Aug. 22, 2003]
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