In recent weeks, the laboratory at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, Ohio, received its accreditation for ISO 15189: Medical Laboratories. With this achievement, Blanchard Valley becomes only the third lab in the United States to become ISO 15189-accredited. Blanchard Valley’s laboratory used the ISO 15189 accreditation services provided by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
MORE ON: ISO 15189
ISO 15189 is still a new development in this country. It was only November 2008 when Piedmont Medical Laboratory of Winchester, Virginia, became the first U.S. laboratory to be accredited under ISO 15189. Then, 60 days later, in January 2009, the laboratory at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, received its 15189 accreditation. At the upcoming Lab Quality Confab on September 28-29, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, lab leaders from both Blanchard Valley Hospital and Piedmont Medical Laboratory will give presentations on the lessons learned and the benefits realized from their labs’ ISO 15189 accreditation.
LUMINEX RELEASES 500-ANALYTE SYSTEM FOR MULTIPLEX TEST
Here’s an interesting milestone of the road to multiplex diagnostics testing. On June 15, Luminex Corporation released for sale its enhanced Flexmap 3D system, a high-throughput multiplexing instrument that can simultaneously perform 500 tests on a single sample! This greatly increases the capabilities of its technology, which previously performed 100 analytes simultaneously on a single specimen. The Austin, Texas-based company says that the Flexmap 3D system is designed for use in medium and high-volume laboratories. It says the system can perform multiplexed genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic biomarker analysis on a single platform.
ARUP CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Over in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 19, ARUP Laboratories celebrated 25 years in business. Founded in 1984, ARUP has posted steady growth. THE DARK REPORT congratulates the team at ARUP for two and a half decades of service, along with its contributions to the field of laboratory medicine.
TRANSITIONS
- In May, Margaret Peck, M.S., MT (ASCP) resigned her position as Executive Director of the Laboratory Accreditation Program at The Joint Commission.
Dark Daily Update
Have you caught the latest e-briefings from DARK Daily? If so, then you’d know about…
…a new federally-funded study to determine if Vitamin D supplements and fish oil can reduce health risk. It will involve 20,000 people and be conducted by Harvard Medical School.
You can get the free DARK Daily e-briefings by signing up at www.darkdaily.com.
