The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has been awarded two grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The funding, totaling more than $1.25 million, will be used to improve the adoption of evidence-based laboratory testing guidelines and to standardize reporting of biomarker test results to cancer registries. The grant dollars will be used over a five-year period.
“Patients and physicians rely on accurate and consistent test results to guide treatment decisions,” says Charles Roussel, chief executive officer for the College of American Pathologists. “Our goal is to help improve patient care through the delivery of standardized laboratory testing and reporting. The CDC funding will enable us to achieve this goal on behalf of patients, pathologists, and laboratory and healthcare professionals nationwide.”
The CAP develops evidence-based guidelines and consensus recommendations to standardize practices among the nation’s laboratories. To date, the CAP has released six evidence-based guidelines, including those related to biomarker testing for breast and lung cancer, as well as validation of immunohistochemical assays and whole slide imaging. Through the CDC grant, the CAP, along with other healthcare organizations, is developing a standardized approach to streamline the collection and recording of cancer biomarker data. This data enables public health professionals to better understand cancer trends and identify needs across the nation.
“By implementing guidelines into clinical practice, hospitals and patients can be assured that the laboratory is following consistent procedures based on scientific evidence and expert consensus opinion,” says Raouf Nakhleh, MD, FCAP, a pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, and lead on the CAP’s CDC project to improve the impact of laboratory practice guidelines. Review the CAP’s recently updated cancer protocols.
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