title: Fifteen years' experience of a College of American Pathologists program for continuous monitoring and improvement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Q-Tracks program, created in 1999, is a quality monitoring subscription service offered by the College of American Pathologists.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish benchmarks in quality metrics, monitor changes in performance over time, and identify practice characteristics associated with better performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Q-Tracks program provides ongoing study of multiple metrics offered in most laboratory disciplines. The design enables measuring the effects of process changes and comparisons with other participating laboratories. Each laboratory Q-Tracks monitor has a primary quality indicator and additional secondary indicators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  To date, 19 Q-Tracks monitors have been offered, with 12 currently active monitors. Q-Tracks are primarily conducted in hospital-based laboratories in the United States, Canada, and 21 other countries. Common to most Q-Tracks monitors is a demonstration of performance improvement by subscribers with long-term participation. This finding was seen in preanalytic, turnaround time, and postanalytic measures. Q-Tracks monitors contribute to the overall demonstration and improvement of laboratory and hospital quality because they address core quality measures for the College of American Pathologists Laboratory Accreditation Program and multiple Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Q-Tracks program has established multiple benchmarks in most disciplines of the laboratory and has demonstrated significant performance improvement in benchmarks and individual laboratories over time.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida (Dr Nakhleh); the Departments of Statistics/Biostatistics (Ms Souers) and Surveys (Ms Bashleben), College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Illinois; the Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (Dr Talbert); the Department of Pathology, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC (Dr Karcher); the Department of Pathology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan (Dr Meier); and the Department of Pathology, State University of New York Downstate, Brooklyn (Dr Howanitz).
authors.forename: Raouf E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Nakhleh
authors.forename: Rhona J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Souers
authors.forename: Christine P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Bashleben
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Talbert
authors.forename: Donald S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Karcher
authors.forename: Frederick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Meier
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Howanitz
mesh_terms: D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000266:history* / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000266:history*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States