- Home
- Laboratory Improvement
- Accreditation
- CAP 15189 Accreditation Program
- Why invest in CAP 15189 Accreditation?
The CAP 15189 program provides accreditation to ISO 15189—an internationally recognized standard—from one of the world’s largest and most experienced medical laboratory accreditors: the College of American Pathologists.
Results-Focused Benefits that Go Beyond Accreditation
Assessors Dedicated to Your Laboratory Throughout Your Accreditation Cycle
Our assessors get to know your organization—its strengths and its vulnerabilities. It’s a partnership that delivers results by continually identifying opportunities for improvement. The expertise our assessors bring matters—97% of program participants surveyed value the fact that CAP assessors are specialized in ISO 15189.
True Process Improvement for Meaningful Cost Savings
CAP 15189 offers you positive business results with cost savings from standardized work, better defined processes, and improved integration of processes. That standardization can lead to reduced variation and fewer errors, which means less rework and reduced turnaround times.
Improvement of Service Levels While Reducing Costs
The nonconformances we identify address significant risks and opportunities. We help you understand how our findings connect to risk management and opportunities for improvement.
Strengthening of Your Quality Culture
With CAP 15189, the discovery of errors is no longer a finger-pointing exercise—it becomes an opportunity for learning and creating through rigorous root cause analysis investigations. Staff members speak proudly about the improvement projects in their area. Overall morale and efficiency both improve as a result.
It’s a culture of identifying process improvements. We’re getting better at sharing best practices and identifying where multiple labs may be struggling with the same types of issues.
Jonathan Carr, JD
Compliance Officer
ARUP Laboratories
ISO Requirements Translated into Medical Laboratory Friendly Terms
As professional assessors, we speak your language—translating ISO requirements into language and activities that are useful, practical, and understandable to pathologists, medical directors, and laboratory staff.
Tailored Education and Quality Tools Developed with Pathologist Input
Our education programs help you implement the requirements and improve your system. We also provide unique tools that help you progress in quality management system maturity and embed quality management into your culture and daily operations. For example, CAP assessors use our Quality Maturing Assessment Tool to gauge your laboratory’s progress from basic to best practice levels.
The CAP 15189 program gives us the tools and the structure needed to identify and document nonconformities and then drill down to the root cause(s). Thanks to the program, we are in a continuous state of improvement making us inspection-ready at all times.
Jessica DesLauriers, MLS (ASCP)CM
Quality Management Systems & Education Manager, Laboratory
Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center
Case Examples
Discover how pathologists and other organizations benefit from the CAP 15189 program.