Appeals in Gynecologic Cytology Proficiency Testing: Review and Analysis of Data from the 2006 College of American Pathologists Gynecologic Cytology Proficiency Testing Program‪.‬

In 1988, the US Congress mandated national gynecologic cytology proficiency testing with the passage of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA '88). (1) Seventeen years later, regulations formulated by the Executive Branch were implemented. Prior to 2005, no organization had applied to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the monumental task of administering a national proficiency test (PT) that would measure an individual's ability to locate and interpret cells on a Papanicolaou (Pap) test. In 2005, the Midwest Institute for Medical Education submitted an application to CMS and subsequently became the first approved national provider for gynecologic cytology proficiency testing. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) applied for its own gynecologic cytology proficiency test (PAP PT) and it was approved in late 2005 as a PT provider for 2006. CMS reapproved the CAP as a national provider for gynecologic cytology testing for 2007 and 2008.