Method for analyzing at least one specimen comprising the steps: a) analyzing at least one specimen by using at least one laboratory instrument; b) upon receiving a notification of an out-of-control condition from a laboratory instrument: analyzing by a processor specimen test data from said laboratory instrument to determine a scope of potential error caused by said out-of-control condition by predicting the number of incorrect patient specimen results since the last known good quality control evaluation; the predicted number of incorrect results being calculated as the sum of the probabilities of any given result being incorrect for all of the patient specimens tested since the last good quality control evaluation, namely N I = ∑ i = 1 NB pI i, where NB is the number of patient specimens tested since the last good quality control evaluation; c) determining by the processor a small out-of-control condition which renders only a fraction of the specimen results evaluated during the existence of the condition to be incorrect if N 1 falls in a predetermined range between MINNI and MAXNI (206, 210), wherein MINNI is a predetermined threshold below which no spot-checking is required, MAXNI is another predetermined threshold above which another method of recovery should be employed d) resolving out-of-control condition; e) performing spot-checking by identifying the specimens to be re-evaluated and re-evaluating by the laboratory instrument said identified specimens based on method step b) (216, 218), wherein said identified specimens having a high probability of being incorrect or with a significant chance of crossing a medical decision limit due to the out-of-control condition. a) analyzing at least one specimen by using at least one laboratory instrument; b) upon receiving a notification of an out-of-control condition from a laboratory instrument: analyzing by a processor specimen test data from said laboratory instrument to determine a scope of potential error caused by said out-of-control condition by predicting the number of incorrect patient specimen results since the last known good quality control evaluation; the predicted number of incorrect results being calculated as the sum of the probabilities of any given result being incorrect for all of the patient specimens tested since the last good quality control evaluation, namely N I = ∑ i = 1 NB pI i, where NB is the number of patient specimens tested since the last good quality control evaluation; c) determining by the processor a small out-of-control condition which renders only a fraction of the specimen results evaluated during the existence of the condition to be incorrect if N 1 falls in a predetermined range between MINNI and MAXNI (206, 210), wherein MINNI is a predetermined threshold below which no spot-checking is required, MAXNI is another predetermined threshold above which another method of recovery should be employed d) resolving out-of-control condition; e) performing spot-checking by identifying the specimens to be re-evaluated and re-evaluating by the laboratory instrument said identified specimens based on method step b) (216, 218), wherein said identified specimens having a high probability of being incorrect or with a significant chance of crossing a medical decision limit due to the out-of-control condition.