Local QA programs are widely used to identify areas needing improvement and to adapt standards and benchmarks for individual laboratories and programs. A potential weakness of simple QA programs is their focus on minimum standards and failure to promote excellence and improvement in acceptable and exceptional areas as well as in substandard aspects of a program. QA can be viewed by some as a hostile, punitive exercise intended to root out bad actors, rather than as a positive exercise to promote self-improvement. Others, at self-proclaimed elite institutions, may avoid effective QA because they easily exceed minimal stated standards. The Health Care Financing Administration issues regulations to implement Medicare laws passed by Congress.
Society grants a profession a limited privilege and responsibility to regulate itself.