COLA

COLA is a national laboratory accreditor and an advocate for quality in laboratory medicine and patient care. It is a physician-directed organization whose purpose is to promote excellence in laboratory medicine and patient care through a program of voluntary education and accreditation. In 1988, COLA was established by the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Physicians (ACP) as an organization to help keep small physician-office laboratories (POLs) in compliance with the newly created Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA ’88). COLA has evolved through the years and today serves over 7,000 laboratories of all sizes, nationwide.

Board representative: Kathy Nucifora, MPH, MT(ASCP) Chief Operating Officer, COLA