Medical Laboratory Observer (MLO) named New York-based Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH), part of Northwell Health, Lab of the Year (LOY) for 2020. MLO is the peer-reviewed management source for lab professionals since 1969 in print and online.
LHH’s laboratory excelled in the criteria MLO staff and its editorial advisory board judged the nominees on, which are: customer service, productivity, teamwork, education and training, strategic outlook and lab inspections.
Spanning two floors of the hospital, LHH’s laboratory services include anatomic and clinical pathology labs, research labs and a blood bank. The laboratory’s employees have worked tirelessly to improve productivity and patient care. In microbiology, for example, the department has coupled the latest technology with creative workflows to make testing available 24/7, reduce turnaround times by one hour and facilitate timely triage and throughput in the emergency department.
The department’s attention to quality patient care also is evident in its lab inspections. For the last two years, LHH has had zero deficiencies that impact patient care.
Education also is an important part of the department’s mission, including a residency program in anatomic and clinical pathology and a surgical pathology fellowship program. The hospital also is a hub for training in medical laboratory technology. Students from all five boroughs in New York City rotate through all areas of the lab. They shadow supervisors and managers, spend a week learning about quality management procedures and policies, state inspections, data analysis and process improvement.
MLO’s 2020 Lab of the Year also named two runners up. Founded in 1946, Norman Regional Health System, a public trust located in Norman, OK, has two hospitals with a total of 387 beds, numerous outpatient locations, more than 3,000 staff members and 350 credentialed physicians. The health system’s laboratory service has three lab locations, offering same-day results, eight patient services centers and a courier fleet.
Mary Lanning Healthcare, located in Hastings, NE, is a not-for-profit health system with 170 licensed beds and more than 20 clinics. The 57-employee lab, which performed 660,110 tests in 2019, provides services in clinical chemistry, hematology, blood bank, microbiology, cytology and anatomic pathology.
LHH’s laboratory and the runners-up for LOY are featured in the April edition of MLO.
Read more about how Lenox Hill Hospital became MLO’s Laboratory of the Year
Honorable runners up:
Mary Lanning Healthcare
Norman Regional Health System
