The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently updated their Ready? Set? Test! booklet. This booklet is a great resource for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waived testing.
Healthcare providers use test results to diagnose disease, determine prognosis, and monitor a patient’s treatment or health status. In current practice, medical decisions are increasingly made based on the results of simple tests conducted close to the site of patient care where treatment is provided. Many of these point-of-care tests are “waived tests” and can be performed without routine regulatory oversight under a Certificate of Waiver from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
This booklet describes recommended practices for physicians, nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, and others who perform patient testing under a CLIA Certificate of Waiver. CLIA requires waived tests to be simple and have a low risk of an incorrect result. While no test is completely error-proof, you can greatly reduce the likelihood of incorrect waived test results by cultivating an environment where trained personnel follow good testing practices.
Click Here to view the booklet. You can order copies from the CDC here.
The CDC also offers a free educational course with CEUs.
Please contact SDCLIA@state.sd.us if you have any questions or if the State CLIA Office can be of any assistance.
