CAP 2025 laboratory accreditation checklists focus on digital pathology and self-collection

The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has released the 2025 edition of its annually updated Laboratory Accreditation Program Checklists, emphasizing patient safety and regulatory clarity through updates that reflect advances in digital pathology and specimen self-collection.

New provisions to the 2025 Checklist Edition support digital pathology, remote data review, and specimen self-collection which will help laboratories to confidently integrate emerging technologies. At the same time, regulatory updates aligned with recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifications simplify compliance and modernize personnel requirements.

Key updates include:

• Digital pathology including remote data assessment: This section now includes expanded introductory text with new use cases across laboratory disciplines and revised requirements addressing factors that may impact the quality of images and data used for final interpretation.
• Specimen self-collection: A new Phase II requirement addresses the self-collection of specimens by patients, including those collected with caregiver assistance. Laboratories must provide written instructions that address quality issues potentially affecting testing. The requirement covers a broad range of specimens suitable for self-collection, such as vaginal specimens for HPV testing.

Read the CAP's announcement here