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Webinars and Sponsored Roundtables — Register Now

Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 11 AM-12 PM ET
Hear experts review the biological and clinical significance of the HER2 expression continuum in breast tissue, providing a clearer understanding of how these variations might impact diagnosis, and discuss the emerging importance of documenting HER2-low and HER2-ultralow categories using a validated IHC assay.

Webinar presenters Keith Wharton, MD, PhD, Global Medical Affairs Leader–Pathology, Roche Diagnostics Solutions, and Hannah Y. Wen, MD, PhD, Director, Breast Pathology Fellowship, Associate Team Leader, Breast Pathology Team, Attending Pathologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Roche.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Register Now

Thursday, October 29, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the evolving role of PD-L1 testing in HNSCC and ovarian cancer.

Webinar presenter Georgios Deftereos, MD, Professor of Pathology, Associate Director of the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory, Director of Molecular Cytopathology, University of California, San Francisco

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Agilent.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

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Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 1 PM-2 PM ET
Hear an expert discuss the challenges of detecting NRG1 fusions and how RNA-based testing can support more comprehensive fusion identification in clinical practice.

Webinar presenter Benjamin Weinberg, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Attending Physician
specializing in gastrointestinal medical oncology

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. The webinar is made possible by a special educational grant from Diaceutics.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Register Now

Monday, November 16, 2026, 12:30 PM-2 PM ET
Hear experts discuss a multidisciplinary approach to oncopathology for HER2
assessments for solid tumors in the absence of a companion diagnostic.

Webinar presenters Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, Chair, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics Medical Director, Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, and Emina E. Torlakovic, MD, PhD, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canadian Biomarker Quality Assurance, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and Carol Cheung, MD, PhD, JD, FRCPC, Deputy Director, Canadian Biomarker Quality, Assurance—Programme canadien d’assurance de la qualité des biomarqueurs

CAP TODAY does not endorse any of the products or services named within. This program is being sponsored by Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. and AstraZeneca. The speaker is being compensated for the presentation. The program is not CME accredited and may not be used for CME accreditation.

Moderated by: Bob McGonnagle, Publisher, CAP TODAY

Register Now

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Q&A column

Q&A column

January 2024
Q. Can a person who has a bachelor of science degree in health care administration sign off on competency assessments? Read answer.

Q. Our laboratory uses a total protein assay from Beckman Coulter that has an analytical measurement range of 3–12 g/dL for serum determinations. The assay sensitivity states 1 g/dL of total protein. Can we loop sensitivity into our AMR and make our reporting range 1–12 g/dL? Will this make our assay a laboratory-developed test? Quite often our clinicians need assays reported to 1 g/dL, since they need to calculate the ratio of total protein serum to body fluid as per Light’s criteria. If we report to 1 g/dL, we have to loop sensitivity into our AMR. Read answer.

Q&A column

December 2023
Q. When using a sodium citrate blue-top tube due to platelet clumping, should the sample be kept warm, and does it have to be run within a certain time frame? Read answer.

Q. Does the CAP require instrument-to-instrument comparability studies at least twice a year for waived point-of-care testing instruments, such as glucose meters, or nonwaived instruments, such as critical care analyzers? Are we required to perform a linearity study twice a year on all waived and nonwaived POC testing instruments? Read answer.

Q&A column

November 2023
Q. A molecular laboratory received an order from an oncologist for next-generation sequencing testing. The patient’s tissue sample was in the custody of a different laboratory, which has a policy requiring patient consent to release materials for reference lab testing.

The oncologist planned to obtain consent from the patient during a scheduled appointment, but the patient’s condition unexpectedly worsened and the patient could no longer travel for the appointment. Neither the custodial laboratory nor the treating health system have mechanisms for electronic consent.

As a result of the lack of options for obtaining consent remotely and the custodial laboratory’s stringent consent policy, potentially life-altering NGS testing was delayed for more than a month. Is this restrictive approach to releasing patient material for reference laboratory testing supported by CAP guidelines? Read answer.

Q. Is it acceptable to perform weak D testing on a newborn who has an RhD-negative blood type and a positive direct antiglobulin test? We know a positive DAT might cause false-positive results on an Rh test, but can it cause false-negative results? Read answer.

Q&A column

October 2023
Q. What is the total allowable error for lupus anticoagulant testing? Read answer.
Q. Our laboratory may relocate to a building five blocks from our current hospital. What kind of instrument validation or verification studies do we need to perform following a move? When should we update the address on our CLIA license and for CAP accreditation? Are we required to have a new CAP inspection before or after testing patient samples at the new location? Read answer.

Q&A column

September 2023
Q. Some recent clinical guidelines recommend lower therapeutic and toxic limits for digoxin than those provided in assay package inserts. What therapeutic ranges and toxic thresholds should laboratories use? Read answer.
Q. One of our providers noticed that two laboratories—one in New York and one in Florida—reported very different thyroid-stimulating hormone values for a patient and called our laboratory to determine which was correct. How should we handle such situations? Read answer.

Q&A column

August 2023
Q. Is there a CAP guideline that recommends that patients stop taking drugs that may interfere with a blood or urine test before providing a specimen? Read answer.
Q. Can laboratory managers and supervisors assess the competency of testing personnel if they do not perform the lab tests themselves? Read answer.

Q&A column

July 2023
Q. Should phosphate analysis be added to the comprehensive metabolic panel, especially given the test’s usefulness in distinguishing various bone disorders?Read answer.
Q. Is it important to fast before a lipid panel? Read answer.

Q&A column

June 2023
Q. California Senate Bill 864 requires that fentanyl screening be included in every drug screen performed in a general acute-care hospital laboratory. The problem is there are no FDA-approved platforms for rapid screening of fentanyl. I found several for forensic use only. The only reagents I found are third-party products to run on open channels on large chemistry analyzers. This is a huge amount of work and expense for a small laboratory. Is sensitivity the stumbling block for rapid testing? How useful is a urine screen if an overdose is an immediate effect and it takes hours for fentanyl to show up in urine and then another hour to run it on a chemistry analyzer? Read answer.
Q. How should a laboratory calculate analyzer throughput? Has a formula been published? Read answer.

Q&A column

May 2023
Q. How long do blood transfusions affect mean corpuscular volume values? A patient had a red blood cell count of 2.5 × 106/μL, hemoglobin level of 7.3 g/dL, hematocrit of 22.7 percent, MCV of 90.8 fL, mean corpuscular hemoglobin of 29.2 pg/cell, and a mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration of 32.2 g/dL. Thirteen days after transfusion, the patient’s values were an RBC of 3.61 × 106/μL, Hgb 10.7 g/dL, Hct 34.6 percent, MCV 95.8 fL, MCH 29.6 pg/cell, and MCHC 30.9 g/dL, and the analyzer flagged the Hgb as abnormal because the MCHC was low. Read answer.
Q. We perform a cell count and differential for bronchoalveolar lavages. I understand the importance of a differential cell count, but is a cell count clinically significant when the bronchoalveolar volume is not standardized? Read answer.

Q&A column

April 2023
Q. Which criteria should be used to interpret mixing studies, not only for lupus anticoagulants but also for other inhibitors? Read answer.
Q. How does the CAP checklist requirement COM.30840 Pipette Carryover relate to blood bank automation? Are there CAP guidelines that address pipette carryover relative to such systems? Read answer.
Q. Our laboratory is assessing criteria for determining quantity not sufficient for a microscopic urinalysis. We were using an automated instrument but have gone back to manual microscopy for reasons beyond our control. While most textbooks state that 10 to 15 mL is the desired amount of sample for testing, it appears that many laboratories require smaller amounts. Can you provide guidance? Read answer.

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