Conducting outcomes research: past experience and future directions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was delegated authority to conduct the studies mandated in the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). Since that time, the CDC has been planning and implementing a research program, Evaluation of Quality of Laboratory Practices and Standards (EQLPS), aimed at demonstrating a clear linkage between patient outcome and laboratory practices and standards such as proficiency testing, quality assurance, and personnel standards. The goal of EQLPS is to improve the quality of laboratory medicine by providing a scientific and technical basis for laboratory practices and standards. In October 1995, the CDC will sponsor an Institute entitled "Frontiers in Laboratory Practice Research," during which strategies for conducting laboratory practice research will be discussed. The Institute should help identify research strategies that will eventually provide the information necessary to develop appropriate practice guidelines for laboratory medicine.