What is a CLIA Certificate of Waiver?

The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) regulate laboratory testing and require healthcare clinics and facilities to be certified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) before they can accept human samples for diagnostic testing.  A CLIA Certificate of Waiver is one type of certification that allows a healthcare clinic or facility to legally examine a person through certain types of tests called "waived tests."