Since 1971, the Diagnostic Accreditation Program  (DAP) has been mandated to assess the quality of diagnostic services in the province of British Columbia through accreditation activities. As a Program of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, the mandate of the DAP derives from the Health Professions Act: Bylaws of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Part 5 Section B. The Diagnostic Accreditation Program is committed to promoting excellence in diagnostic health care through the following activities:

»Establishing performance standards that are consistent with professional knowledge to ensure the delivery of safe, high quality diagnostic service;

»Evaluating a diagnostic service’s level of actual performance to achieving the performance standards;

»Establishing a comparative database of health care organizations, and their performance to selected structure, process, and outcome standards or criteria;

»Monitoring the performance of organizations through the establishment of external proficiency testing programs and other robust quality indicators of performance;

»Providing education and consultation to health care organizations, managers, and health professionals on quality improvement strategies and "best practices" in diagnostic health care;

»Ensuring information learned from accreditation processes is used for system wide improvement;

»Reporting to government, stakeholders and the public on the performance of the diagnostic health care system as assessed through accreditation;

»Strengthening the public's confidence in the quality of diagnostic health care;

»Assisting organizations to reduce risks and increase safety for patients and staff;

»Assisting organizations to reduce health care costs by promoting quality practices that increase efficiency and effectiveness of services; and

»Serving and safeguarding the public

The Diagnostic Accreditation Program currently has 22 accreditation programs covering the following diagnostic services: