Proficiency testing. Its role in a voluntary clinical Laboratory Accreditation Program.

The author's long experience as Chairman of the Laboratory Accreditation Program of the College of American Pathologists provides the background for this article. Laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing have now become an established part of the clinical laboratories in the United States. This article attempts to demonstrate the relationship between proficiency testing and accreditation, and highlights some of the current problems and future challenges facing proficiency testing as pertains to accreditation.