ARHS Laboratory Wins at Quality Conference

During the annual 2015 Lab Quality Confab conference held in New Orleans, Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s (ARHS) Laboratory Services won 2nd place in presenting their “Ready, Set, Go” Process Improvement Initiatives. The Lab Quality Confab conference is a national conference focused on the pursuance of excellence in continuous improvement.

ARHS was thrilled to be competing against facilities such as Mayo Medical, Henry Ford Health System, and the New York City Public Health Lab to highlight ARHS’ commitment to improving quality in workflow and processes that ultimately benefit our patients. The ARHS Ready, Set, Go initiative resulted in a 27.2% increase in inpatient turnaround times (lab order to lab result) and a 8.7% increase in the emergency department turnaround times. Statistically, lab results are used in 70-80% of all medical decisions so the quicker the lab gets information to the clinician, the quicker the clinician can treat the patient. This is the 2nd time that ARHS Laboratory Services has presented a quality initiative and won during this national conference.

Robert L. Michel, the Founder and Host of the Lab Quality Confab states, “The American healthcare system is undergoing major transformation, and it is essential that all clinical laboratories and pathology groups recognize and respond to a sea-change. Expect high value content and learning from this information-filled conference, as best-of-class clinical laboratories share their most successful strategies to meet the new needs of physicians, patients, and payers.”

ARHS Laboratory Services is dedicated to constantly improving the delivery of care for our patients. And of course, ARHS is pleased to highlight the work of our Laboratory Services teams who work daily to locally provide the same high quality level of care that is found in other world-class health organizations.