ARC labs placed among top one percent nationwide

CLIA inspectors impressed with lab facilities at ARC Far West Clinic.

At the end of May, the lab-regulating arm of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made a surprise inspection of the Far West lab. CMS regulates all laboratory testing (except research) performed on humans in the U.S. through the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

The objective of the CLIA program is to ensure quality laboratory testing.
CLIA was on site inspecting the ARC lab for four days. Following their inspection they told us they were impressed by the growth of the lab. They told David Martin, Administrative Director of Lab Services at ARC, that they fully expected to find deficiencies due to the manner in which people and machines are so closely crowded into the space allotted to the lab at Far West.

Fortunately, we exceeded their expectations. The organization, operation and overall quality of our lab impressed them. In fact, according to CLIA, ranked by volume, we are now in the top 1 percent of labs in the country. Our volume exceeds many commercial labs. With CLIA covering approximately 189,000 laboratory entities, that places ARC in the top 1,890 labs in the country.

Chief Operating Officer Susan Patton said, "We owe David a big pat on the back. The volume in the lab has increased even more than the visits have and he has managed to run it at the same high level of quality." She then added, "I am also happy to report that the Far West conference room has been successfully converted into a call center and we will soon free up space for the lab to expand."

Congratulations to David Martin and all the staff at the ARC Far West lab!