External Quality Assessment (EQA) programs are worldwide invaluable tools applied by laboratories for periodical evaluation of effeciency of their test systems.

The results are impartially compared with the results of other laboratories using similar methodologies, tools and reagents. Combined with daily quality control, these external programs provide additional reliance in delivering results of laboratory tests to our patients.

The Reference Institute for Bioanalytics (RfB) of the German Medical Association offers a wide range of EQA (over 300 analytes) to ensure the quality of laboratory tests. Starting from 2016 RfB has also been offering about 150 additional analytes from the European network for quality of molecular genetic studies.

Accuracy control of analyses depends directly on the quality of the analytes provided, which are tested in accredited calibration laboratories.