Laboratory Services

The Hudson Valley Cancer Center laboratory is certified by the regulatory agencies COLA and CLIA as a highly-complex laboratory in the specialties of Hematology, Chemistry, Endocrinology and General Immunology. COLA is a non-profit, physician directed accreditation program contracted by CLIA that satisfies laboratory CLIA requirements while also imposing more stringent regulations than CLIA. The more stringent regulations are met through education, tutorials and achievement benchmarks.

COLA is approved by the federal government and is sponsored by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, and the American Osteopathic Association for the oversight of clinical laboratories performing testing on human specimens in the United States.

The HVCC laboratory maintains a successful performance on Federal Government Laboratory Proficiency Testing. Proficiency testing is one of many tools used by COLA and CLIA to examine how well a laboratory monitors quality control, calibration, maintenance and operator variables that may affect the proper determination of lab results. Maintaining a successful standing on proficiency testing is crucial for a laboratory to maintain regulatory accreditation as well as in maintaining eligibility to receive payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). For this reason, copies of the Hudson Valley Hematology and Oncology proficiency testing performance are sent to the Federal Government and COLA.