Equivalency
Equivalency means that an accreditation organization's or a State laboratory program's requirements, taken as a whole, are equal to or more stringent than the CLIA requirements established by CMS, taken as whole. It is acceptable for an accreditation organization's or State laboratory program's requirements to be organized differently or otherwise vary from the CLIA requirements, as long as (1) All of the requirements taken as a whole would provide at least the same protection as the CLIA requirements taken as a whole; and (2) A finding of noncompliance with respect to CLIA requirements taken as a whole would be matched by a finding of noncompliance with the accreditation or State requirements taken as a whole.