State Lab appears accredited

The 17 state public labs at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute at 305 S. Huntington Ave. appear to be in compliance with regulations and accredited.

The Hinton Institute held the now-closed state drug lab where former chemist Annie Dookhan allegedly mishandled thousands of drug samples. Dookhan’s alleged actions have put numerous convictions in doubt.

According to a report on the website of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which accredits labs through the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), the Hinton Institute is in compliance and has accreditation. It is unclear which labs the report refers to and CMS was unable to clarify before the Gazette deadline.

Another report on the CMS website showed that none of the CLIA-certified labs at the Hinton Institute had any violations in 2011.

A recent report on the State Lab’s quality assurance program, conducted by the Association of Public Health Laboratories, also said the labs are fully accredited.

The Gazette had previously confirmed that the childhood lead screening laboratory at the Hinton Institute is currently accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).

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