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Lab Accreditor Provides Link to Test Utilization Website

Last week, laboratory accreditor COLA presented seven $500 scholarships to students from Morgan State University (MSU) and the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) during a major symposium which drew medical professionals from across the U.S. The organization also honored workers from a Joplin, MO lab for their heroic efforts to provide vital lab testing [...]

Accreditor Appoints Experienced Clinical Expert and Corporate Director to Education Post

Recently, COLA joined forces with ADVANCE for Medical Laboratory Professionals magazine to present a webinar on Calibration Verification. More than 1,400 ADVANCE readers registered for the seminar, of which some 800 attended, the largest audience ADVANCE has ever drawn for its online programs. The seminar was presented by COLA team member Ed Sass, MS, MLSCM [...]

New Portal Designed to Make E-Learning Easier; Part of Overall COLA.org Update

Several federal agencies have proposed amending the patient privacy provisions of two federal laws, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). In effect, the new rule – CMS-2319-P: Patients’ Access to Test Reports – would repeal exceptions to an individual’s right of access [...]

COLA staff participated in a pair of webinars during the month of June. First, COLA partnered with ADVANCE Magazine on a webinar providing an overview of the state of waived testing. Its purpose was to give lab professionals some practical advice on how to conduct this testing in a quality manner. COLA Chief Marketing Officer [...]

The Centers for Disease Control, which has developed educational materials encouraging healthcare professionals to follow good lab practices when performing waived testing, will soon unveil another tool. In an email message to the members of its Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee, CDC is seeking physicians willing to “pilot test” a recently developed online training module [...]

On May 23, professionals from COLA helped introduce 31 students in two Baltimore schools to the exciting world of laboratory sciences. COLA CEO Doug Beigel and members of his team visited both Rayner Browne Academy and Collington Square School in East Baltimore. After serving a pizza lunch to and interacting with the students, team COLA [...]

Fledgling program surges in popularity among COLA members