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The National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR) is a national quality and benchmarking program led by ASCP. The registry captures data that measure adherence to clinical practice guideline recommendations, quality and performance standards, and appropriate utilization of laboratory testing.
NPQR helps laboratories optimize quality and performance in several key ways:
Developed as a tool for pathologists and laboratory professionals to promote best practices within laboratory medicine. This tool will also benefit our clinical colleagues and ultimately improve patient care.
Designed with laboratory information system providers, the Registry supports integration with multiple LIS and includes quality and performance measures spanning several categories.
For more information and to inquire about participating, please contact Ali Brown, MD, FASCP, Chief Officer, Medical Quality, ASCP, and the ASCP NPQR team at NPQR@ascp.org.
Learn more about how NPQR protects patient privacy, ensures data security, and complies with HIPAA regulations through our privacy and security white paper.
The National Pathology Quality Registry is a member-driven initiative that will allow participants to collect and disseminate data critical to quality improvement in the laboratory. NPQR measures were created by pathologists and laboratory professionals to provide a trusted source for best practices and benchmarking. This interactive resource applies data aggregation and visualization tools to data from your lab’s LIS to help you develop projects to improve patient care and reduce costs.
As a tool focused on continuous quality improvement and business analytics, NPQR offers 30 NPQR-exclusive performance measures. NPQR measures were developed to apply to a wide variety of pathology specialties and practices.
These measures are exclusive to NPQR and can be utilized for benchmarking and quality improvement practices in the laboratory. They are not used for CMS reporting to satisfy MIPS. Laboratories can choose to provide data on any or all of these measures, as they relate to their particular practice.
Click the measure categories below to view the related measures and their descriptions. Use the button below to download a PDF with additional details about each measure.
Measure Description: Percentage of ordering providers who ordered a 25-OH-Vitamin D, who were informed by the laboratory this test is not beneficial for patients who do not have suspected osteoporosis, chronic kidney disease, malabsorption or obesity
Or follow practice patterns without the need for clinician notification with:
Measure Description: Percentage of patients who have a 25-OH-Vitamin D performed
Measure Description: Percentage of patients who have a diagnosis of AMI, that have a troponin I or T test performed
Measure Description: Percentage of patients who have only a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) performed in the evaluation of non-neoplastic thyroid disease
Measure Description: Percentage of patients who have lipase testing performed when suspecting acute pancreatitis
Measure Description: Percentage of providers who ordered a repeat blood chemistry panel within four days on an individual patient, in greater than 10% of their patients tested, who were notified by the laboratory that repeat testing is not likely beneficial in clinically stable patients.
Measure Description: Percentage of providers who ordered repeat C. difficile stool toxin testing within seven days on an individual patient, who were notified by the laboratory that repeat testing is not beneficial, and can lead to increased false positive test results.
Measure Description: Percentage of providers who ordered a repeat CBC within four days on an individual patient, in greater than 10% of their patients tested, who were notified by the laboratory that repeat testing is not likely beneficial in clinically stable patients.
Measure Description: Percentage of providers who ordered repeat Hepatitis C serology testing on a patient with previously positive results, who were notified by the laboratory that repeat testing is not beneficial.
Measure Description: The percentage of tests that were not performed or results not available due to any of the following reasons: inadequate container, inappropriate volume, compromised sample, sample contamination, improper storage or transport; or any combination of these reasons
Measure Description: Percentage of tests that were reordered as a result of that test not being performed or results not available due to any of the following reasons: inadequate container, inappropriate volume, compromised sample, contamination, improper storage or transport; or any combination of these reasons
Measure Description: Percentage of tests that were reordered as a result of that test not being performed or results not available due to any of the following reasons: inadequate container, inappropriate volume, compromised sample, contamination, improper storage or transport; or any combination of these reasons
Measure Description: Time interval of tests recorded from sample collection until results are verified (Clinical Pathology)
Measure Description: Time interval of tests recorded from sample collection time until sample is received in the laboratory (Anatomic and Clinical Pathology)
Measure Description: Time interval of tests recorded from the time a sample is received in the laboratory until results are verified (Clinical Pathology)
Measure Description: Measurement of the time interval beginning when results are verified until the critical value is reported (Clinical Pathology)
Measure Description: The percentage of CSF-WBC tests reported by a laboratory back to the ordering provider as critical when the CSF-WBC test results in a critical value
Measure Description: The percentage of chemistry tests; Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Calcium, Bicarbonate, Ammonia, Total Bilirubin – Newborn, Arterial Blood Gases – pH, PO2, PCO2, Glucose, Glucose – Newborn, reported by a laboratory back to the ordering provider as critical when a chemistry test results in a critical value
Measure Description: The percentage of troponin tests reported by a laboratory back to the ordering provider as critical when a troponin test results in a critical value
Measure Description: The percentage of carbamazepine, phenobarbital, acetaminophen toxicology tests reported by a laboratory back to the ordering provider as critical when the test results in a critical value
Measure Description: Rate of major and minor discrepancies per overall cases evaluated
Measure Description: Rate of major discrepancies per overall cases evaluated
Measure Description: Rate of cases with incorrect patient demographics and/or anatomic location
Measure Description: Rate of cases in which there is missing or incorrect information or typographical inaccuracies are present
Measure Description: Rate of cases in which any specimen defect occurs
Measure Description: Rate of cases in which a major defect in specimen processing occurs
Measure Description: Rate of major discrepancies when comparing diagnosis from a frozen section to the final diagnosis
Measure Description: Rate of retrospective review of all surgical pathology cases
Measure Description: Rate of autopsy preliminary anatomic diagnoses (PAD) signed out in less than two business days
Measure Description: Rate of Pap test samples interpreted as negative by the cytotechnologist that are reevaluated by a pathologist or a qualified supervisory cytotechnologist prior to reporting
Measure Description: Percentage of lung cytopathology or pathology specimen cases with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) that address presence or absence of actionable targets through ancillary biomarker testing AND meet the maximum 10-day turnaround time (TAT) requirement (report date of ancillary biomarker testing – accession date = ≤ 10 days).
