The educational subsidiary of COLA, COLA Resources Inc. (CRI) is showcasing an innovative, intuitive software program to help laboratories implement emerging quality control guidelines at a press conference at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Meeting and Clinical Laboratory Expo.
The new tool, called the CRI IQCP E-Optimizer is designed to help laboratories implement the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new Individualized Quality Control Plan (IQCP) guidelines, scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2016. The E-Optimizer helps labs biopsy their current QC methods; receive customized recommendations on how to align their QC programs with IQCP guidelines; and develop and implement their own individualized test system QC. The program, which can be customized for any test system in a laboratory, including waived, moderate or high complexity tests, allows labs to meet the following key objectives:
- Perform a meaningful Risk Assessment
- Create an economically and clinically beneficial QC Plan customized by test method, utilization, environmental factors, and personnel competency
- Optimize current QC/QA processes
- Adhere to federal, state and accrediting organization requirements
- Ensure continuous quality patient care, with optimal clinical outcomes
- Identify new initiatives and ongoing measures to improve the quality of patient care
“IQCP is a critically important development in quality control in the laboratory, providing a framework for customizing a plan for each laboratory’s unique test systems and environment,” says Rose Mary Casados, President of CRI. “Because IQCP takes a more comprehensive approach to quality control, CRI developed these educational tools to clearly explain the steps labs need to take to both understand and implement it, which we will showcase at this important lab conference.”
Casados says CRI also offers a workbook format tool, the CRI Implementation Guide, to guide labs through the implementation of IQCP. The guide also assists laboratorians in developing a Risk Assessment Plan, by using such tools as Process Mapping, Fishbone, and a Risk Identification Table.
Read more about the CRI implementation guide.
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