About Lab Quality

Laboratories are on the frontline for protecting our communities’ health. CDC provides clinical and public health laboratories with training and technical assistance so they can achieve the highest quality laboratory science while ensuring the safety of laboratory professionals and the communities where they work.

By supporting the highest-quality standards, CDC’s Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS) empowers laboratories to conduct high-quality testing, provide accurate and timely test results, and positively influence how the results are used by a patient’s care team.

DLS is responsible for advancing laboratory quality management systems (QMS), technical guidance, and training materials based on the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) requirements. This regulation mandates laboratories to have quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) measures in place that ensure the accuracy and precision of the complete testing process. In addition, DLS works to enhance quality resources throughout clinical and public health laboratories across the country.

DLS works with  other CDC programs to develop and deliver QMS trainings both for laboratory professionals within the agency and externally for the broader U.S. clinical and public health laboratory community.