August 28, 2026
College of American Pathologists Reaches Milestone of 8,500 Accredited Laboratories Worldwide
CAP Political Action Committee (PATHPAC)
Transcript
Nancy Johnson
The CAP's accreditation program hits a milestone, a webinar on how to advocate for pathology, and a new proficiency testing program on anti-CD38 interference. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Friday, August 28th.
Nancy Johnson
8,500. That's how many laboratories the CAP has accredited since the program's 1961 launch, a milestone reached this month. The CAP's accreditation checklists have become the gold standard for laboratory excellence, as federal government officials acknowledged when Congress passed the first CLIA standards in 1967. The program continues to set performance standards for laboratories around the world, while constantly evolving as medicine, technology, and regulations change. For more information, see the CAP website's Laboratory Quality Solutions page.
Nancy Johnson
Attending CAP26 in Las Vegas in October? If you're also a contributor to PathPAC, the CAP's nonpartisan political action committee, you'll get a nice perk. Access to the PAC Lounge. It will be open daily to all CAP PathPAC members with a PAC ribbon. Stop by to connect with colleagues, charge your devices, and hear about advocacy priorities.
Nancy Johnson
We've been telling you about the CAP's new proficiency testing programs now available for order for 2027 delivery. Today we focus on the anti-CD38 interference antibody screen. Anti-CD38 drugs are used to treat blood cancers, but can cause interference with some laboratory tests. Dr. Matthew Karafin, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chair of the CAP's Transfusion, Apheresis and Cellular Therapy Committee, explained how laboratories overcome the problem.
Dr. Matthew Karafin
Over the last many years, we have learned techniques that are now becoming very well established that allows us to get rid of that interference. Enzyme treatment like AET or DTT are now becoming more and more commonplace. And these are useful enzymes to get rid of that drug interference and look to see whether there are underlying antibodies that are not detectable because of that drug interference. And so we now have a proficiency test that allows all labs that use these techniques to practice and see how they're doing in comparison to the rest of the country.
Nancy Johnson
And finally, the CAP will hold a webinar next month called Pathology Beyond the Microscope, Advocacy in Action. Presenter, Dr. Elizabeth Conner, a molecular genetic pathology fellow at Mass General Brigham in Boston, explained what it's about.
Dr. Elizabeth Conner
We really want to talk about the role of advocacy in pathology and in particular grassroots advocacy. So how do you as an individual get engaged in your community? How do you engage with the CAP? And how do you craft, you know, really impactful messages about what's important to us and our patients?
Nancy Johnson
The webinar will focus on CLIA and FDA oversight, as well as topics of special interest to pathology residents, including student loans and work visas. A member of the CAP Residents Forum Executive Committee, Dr. Conner encourages pathologists starting out in their careers to get involved early.
Nancy Johnson
That's all for today. See the show notes for more information on today's stories. And if you've got a story to share, write to us at stories at CAP.org. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.