NATA is the abbreviation for National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia, which is the organisation responsible for ensuring that testing facilities comply with national and international testing standards.

Although a laboratory can follow Good Laboratory Practice (an international standard), this does not mean it is NATA accredited. Within a laboratory that undertakes multiple pathology tests, individual tests must be  independently accredited by NATA.  For example, a laboratory may undertake a range of tests, but only have NATA accreditation for its Salivary Cortisol testing procedure. This then becomes a guarantee of reliability for that test, and an indicator of quality.

Importantly, when conducting pathology tests with an external supplier, Medicare rebates for eligible tests are only available to laboratories that have this accreditation.

For additional information, see the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare.