Public and private laboratories must work together if they are to succeed. Indeed, states that actively foster such relationships report an increase in laboratory testing, communication and connectedness. APHL has developed its laboratory partnership program to showcase models that demonstrate how to build and maintain similarly successful collaborations.
APHL supports the concept of the State Public Health Laboratory System, which encompasses all who participate—from those who initiate testing to those who use the results. Individual state public health laboratory systems are the foundation of the National Laboratory System (NLS), which ultimately depends on fully integrated and coordinated laboratory and public health networks in every state. The goal of the NLS is to support voluntary, interdependent partnerships of clinical, environmental, agricultural and veterinary laboratories, through public-private collaboration, for assurance of quality laboratory services and public health surveillance.