The Requirements for a CLIA Laboratory Surveyor

In 1988, Medicare unveiled the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), which require the inspection of all laboratories conducting medical testing for human patients within Medicare participating facilities and programs. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid services contracts with each state's department of health to provide CLIA inspection services. State agencies have each developed their own criteria to select, hire and train their CLIA surveyors. However, despite the fact that job descriptions vary between states, inspectors need to be able to understand and properly judge clinical laboratories. Therefore, certain common requirements have been adopted among states.

Licensing

• CLIA surveyors must be lab people themselves. Therefore, most states require surveyors to be licensed clinical laboratory professionals in good standing. California for example, requires surveyors to be licensed as either a clinical laboratory technologist or a public health microbiologist.

Education

• Given the license requirements, the minimum education for a CLIA surveyor is usually a minimum of a bachelor's degree and specific training in a clinical laboratory. However, some states aim higher. Wyoming, for example, requires a Ph.D. for its CLIA inspectors.

Experience

• A new graduate chemist doesn't have a solid grasp on the workings of a clinical laboratory. Therefore, three years of clinical laboratory experience or supervisory experience are usually a prerequisite for being considered for a CLIA inspector position. Diverse experience is also an asset. Having both general and speciality lab experience as well as management or bioanalyst experiences add to a candidate's strength.