scope:

The concepts of quality costs are generic; therefore, this technical report is applicable to medical laboratories of any size, complexity, or specialty, including point-of-care testing. Other types of laboratories, such as public health, research, food, environmental, and veterinary laboratories, can also use the information in this technical report.

This document presents an initial approach laboratories can take to identify quality costs and remove unnecessary expense from laboratory processes. This report is not meant for laboratories to develop and implement the type of comprehensive quality cost accounting system suggested in the literature for manufacturing and other for-profit industries.