Webinar: The Importance of Precision and Accuracy in HbA1c Measurement

Event Organizer: Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine

Event Website: https://www.aacc.org/education/all-webinars/webinars/2023/august/the-importance-of-precision-and-accuracy-in-hba1c-measurement

Event Overview:

“Specific, outcome based, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) treatment goals are in the standards of care of many diabetes organizations worldwide. However, poor assay quality and lack of comparability of HbA1c test results among methods and laboratories initially presented a major obstacle to meaningful implementation of guidelines for diabetes care. Since that time, methods for measuring HbA1c have improved tremendously, and the NGSP standardization/certification program has provided tools for manufacturers to standardize their methods. This has enabled laboratories to report results that are traceable to the outcome data on which current guidelines are based.

Laboratorians need to be familiar with current HbA1c methods, how HbA1c results are used by healthcare providers to provide optimal diabetes care, and how the NGSP is working to further improve HbA1c measurement. There is still some room for improvement in HbA1c testing, especially given its use in diagnosis. A few methods still show sub-optimal variability on CAP surveys; we encourage laboratories to use methods that are NGSP certified and that show good performance on CAP surveys. There are also new CLIA regulations that go into effect July 2024 that include HbA1c as a regulated analyte and introduce performance criteria. How these new CLIA regulations may impact the laboratory and HbA1c testing is not fully known but is necessary to be aware of.

In this webinar, Dr. Randie Little, a leader in HbA1c standardization, will discuss the importance of precision and accuracy of HbA1c testing for laboratories and patient care. Dr. Little will also provide information about the upcoming CLIA regulations and how they might affect precision and accuracy of HbA1c testing. As a highly utilized test with direct impact on laboratories and patients, all laboratorians are encouraged to register.”

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