CAP: Improving Health Around the World, One Lab at a Time

Reliable diagnostic testing is essential to good medical care, but many laboratories worldwide still face barriers to delivering consistent, high-quality results. To close that gap the College of American Pathologists (CAP) is working with hospitals to improve lab performance, bringing critical support where it’s needed most.

Through its Laboratory Accreditation Program, the CAP partners with labs in developing countries to increase quality and safety. The program helps laboratories meet internationally recognized standards, ensuring that test results are accurate, consistent, and useful for making the right medical decisions.

“Laboratory accreditation is one of the most effective ways to improve care,” said Gail H. Vance, MD, FCAP, chair of the CAP Foundation Global Pathology Committee (GPC). “It gives labs a proven path to quality, and it helps more patients get the right diagnosis, no matter where they live.”

As part of the Global Pathology article series, curated by the GPC, a new article in the July issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine highlights one such effort: Vinmec Times City International Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. In 2022, Vinmec became the first hospital in the country to earn both CAP accreditation and Joint Commission International certification. Today, its anatomic pathology laboratory performs more than:

• 25,000 gynecologic cytology samples
• 10,000 small biopsy specimens
• 3,000 nongynecologic cytology samples
• 1,500 surgical specimens
• 500 immunohistochemistry samples
• 300 frozen sections

The CAP worked closely with Vinmec’s pathologists and lab team over several years, helping them make lasting improvements in areas like staff training, test validation, and day-to-day lab management. These changes not only strengthened care at one hospital, but they set a new standard for labs across the region.

A separate article in Archives highlights the CAP Foundation’s role in supporting this broader effort. Through training, grants, and educational access, the CAP Foundation equips pathologists in under-resourced regions with tools to strengthen diagnostics and support better outcomes via their grant and awards programs and webinars. These programs complement CAP’s accreditation work by helping frontline pathologists implement and sustain quality improvements in their own communities.

From Southeast Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, the CAP’s partnerships are helping laboratories deliver more accurate diagnoses and better care for patients everywhere.

As the CAP and the CAP Foundation continue to expand their global reach, their programs are closing diagnostic gaps and helping build healthier communities.

Talk to an expert: Dr. Gail Vance is available to discuss the role of lab accreditation in improving care worldwide. For interviews, contact media@cap.org.

About the College of American Pathologists

As the world’s largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, visit the CAP Newsroom, CAP.org and yourpathologist.org to watch pathologists at work and see the stories of the patients who trust them with their care.

About the College of American Pathologists Foundation

The CAP Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the College of American Pathologists, dedicated to improving people’s health by developing tomorrow’s pathology leaders and mobilizing pathologists to expand health equity in medically underserved communities within the US and globally. The Foundation’s Global Pathology Committee advances this mission internally by supporting pathologists in low-resource settings through grants, mentorship, and collaborative initiatives. For more information, visit foundation.cap.org.

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