Health Care Financing Administration--Federal health insurance for the aged and disabled; quality control and proficiency testing standards for laboratories in Medicare hospitals. Final rule.
These amendments revise the Medicare regulations to provide that the quality control and proficiency testing requirements used by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in accrediting hospital laboratories are now equivalent to those established by the Department. This change reflects the results of a reevaluation made by the Department of upgraded standards adopted by AOA and the actions taken by AOA to implement these standards. The Department (Center for Disease Control) will monitor AOA's performance in applying the standards. The monitoring function shall include the review and transcription of laboratory survey data in AOA's offices which are necessary to the completion of this task. The finding of CDC/PHS monitoring will be used by HCFA to verify the equivalence of the AOA standards to the Federal standards. The amendments will eliminate the need for State health agency inspection of AOA accredited hospital laboratories.
D000068:Accreditation / Q000592:standards; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000592:standards*; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D006278:Medicare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010021:Osteopathic Medicine; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States