Fellow Laboratorians and Health Workers:
As part of our efforts to promote and improve the Indiana Public Health Laboratory System, the Outreach Program at the Indiana State Department of Health Laboratories recently completed a project to certify our partner laboratories. With guidance from Association of Public Health Laboratories, we established laboratory-based criteria that we view as essential when handling potential biothreat agents. We then used information that we collected in previous surveys and questionnaires to determine whether laboratories met these qualifications. While we are not a regulatory institution, we want to acknowledge that your laboratories meet a standard of excellence. We decided to recognize two levels of laboratory certification and according to our data, your lab qualifies as an Advanced Sentinel Laboratory. This means that your laboratory meets the following requirements:
1. Performs clinical microbiology in-house.
2. Is CLIA-certified.
3. Has a referral policy in place for suspect agents.
4. Has BSL-2 capabilities.
5. Has at least one Class II BSC.
6. Provides extra respiratory protection such as N95s or PAPRs.
7. Has at least 2 employees that are competent in the ASM Sentinel Laboratory Guidelines.
8. Has at least 2 employees that are trained and certified in the Packaging and Shipping of Division 6.2 Materials.
9. Has a protocol in place to destroy category A specimens and/or isolates.
10. Participates in the LPX (CAP's Laboratory Preparedness Exercise).
We have prepared the certificates and will be mailing them out shortly. They are effective October 1, 2010 through December 31, 2012. Recertification will be biennial.
Please be advised that these certificates will be mailed to your Laboratory Director. Please give this certificate to your Microbiology Laboratory.
Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to keeping Indiana healthy!
Judy Lovchik, PhD, ABMM
Assistant Commissioner/Lab Director
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Effective August 1, 2010 CIGNA providers and members in Illinois and Indiana will have access to the full test menu of laboratory services provided by Alverno Clinical Laboratories.
Alverno is dedicated to providing high quality, cost effective testing with a focus on service.
Alverno offers an extensive network of conveniently located Patient Service Centers. Our Patient Service Centers are staffed by skilled phlebotomists and offer wait times of less than 15 minutes.
If you would like additional information about the services we offer or to locate a Patient Service Center please call Client Services at 800-937-5521.
Cheryl Vance, President and CEO of Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC receives one of the four Safety grants of Amerisure, Inc. in the United States in a formal presentation at the Alverno home office in Hammond, Indiana.
The grant is made to companies that take significant actions to promote safety among the work force and demonstrate active safety programming.
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC embarked on a journey towards a Culture of Safety in 2009.
Alverno is an integrated delivery system performing diagnostic testing to healthcare providers and hospitals in Illinois and Indiana.
Pictured (left to right) are: Michele Relias, Cheryl Vance, Jody Wilburn of Amerisure, and Dan Connor.
Phlebotomy Today - Volume 11, Issue 2 February, 2010,
From Phlebotomy Today, Copyright 2010, Center for Phlebotomy Education, Inc. www.phlebotomy.com Reprinted with permission
Alverno VP Quoted in Industry Publication (PDF, 928KB)
Alverno welcomes Franciscan Physician Hospital of Munster, Indiana.
Franciscan Physician Hospital a 30 bed, surgical center and Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC of Hammond, Indiana announce that the hospital will join the integrated delivery system of Alverno to achieve cost savings that as a stand alone hospital it does not enjoy. Alverno will manage the on site diagnostic laboratory and integrate its testing with the Alverno centralized laboratory located in Hammond, Indiana.
Sam Terese, Chief Operating Officer of Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC states, ¨Our highly reliable scientific laboratory supports the quality goals of
Franciscan Physician Hospital and is delighted to collaborate in its mission of healing.¨
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC welcomes Millennium Diagnostics, a Pathology Lab formed in 1986, located at 1361 Englewood Dr., Slidell, LA 70458 as a new client.
Dr. Herbert Ichinose, MD APMC, President of Millenium Diagnostics specializes in the fields of Molecular Pathology, Histology, and Cytology.
Alverno provides Millenium Diagnositics with quality clinical laboratory services in the areas of Histology, Cytology, and Molecular Biology.
The addition of this new client adds the fourth state of the union into Alverno’s scope of services. Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan compose the other three states where clients of the clinical laboratory reside.
Alverno and Immucor sign Five Year Automation Agreement
On February 9th, Alverno’s Molecular Biology and Flow Cytometry department began moving from 4 smaller rooms into its newly remodeled area. What was once a large dim records storage room is now a bright new laboratory area with six rows of lab benches to accommodate a rapidly growing area of clinical diagnostics. In a few short years, this department has gone from one supervisor and two part time technologists, to a staff of twelve technologists, a coordinator, and a director, Dr. Jennifer Skeen. A year and a half ago, with the need for timely MRSA screen results, the molecular department began operating 24/7.
Molecular testing, using RNA or DNA to detect, quantify, or characterize an organism or cell, is now an important tool in the clinical laboratory. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Hybrid Capture, and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), are some of the technologies that are used here, and are increasingly playing an important role in infectious disease, oncology, and genetic testing.
With no more setting timers and going from room to room to perform the next step of a test, our department is much more LEAN and feels much more like a team. Our new area is bright and quiet and installed with enough outlets and data ports to grow and expand our test menu as molecular diagnostics technology constantly grows.
MT students receive recognition!
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC expanded its fleet of automobiles with a new logo and web site branding in 2009. Couriers of Alverno provide six pick ups a day to its 28 hospital clients. In an average year the couriers drive 2.3 million miles.
The picture displays the new logo on a new car that features a mountain that recalls the great work of St. Francis of Assisi who set out from the humble beginnings of his original mission to Mount Alverno in Italy to expand his work. The new tag line is "Reaching Greater Heights".
Laura Blackwell, Manager of Logistics, stated, "The new cars will remain in active service, driven by any of our 88 couriers, for 250,000 miles."
Parties interested in learning more about Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC should contact Carolyn Cantele, Business Development Manager, at (219) 313-5057.
Merry Christmas: Use the Christmas Generosity
The laboratory at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, IL has been accredited by the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists after an on-site inspection. The lab is one of more than 6,000 accredited laboratories nationwide. "The lab is the area of the hospital where blood and tissue samples are tested and studied to determine whether illness or disease is present, so quality is absolutely critical in order to have accurate diagnoses," says Joseph Natarelli, DO, medical director of laboratory and pathology, in a news release. "We renew our laboratory accreditation every two years. This accreditation demonstrates to our patients that they can count on us for highly reliable laboratory test results. Being CAP-accredited also means that we not only meet federal requirements, [but that] we exceed them." The laboratory is staffed by 125 specially trained employees, including medical technologists, medical laboratory technicians, laboratory aides, transcriptionists, phlebotomists, a cytotechnologist, and histology technologists.
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC is a finalist in the BKD Indiana Excellence Awards. The statewide competition announced finalists on September 25, 2008 and congratulated Alverno.
Dawn R. Howard, Sales and Marketing Manager of BKD has informed Alverno: "The site visits are complete and it is our pleasure to inform you that your organization is one of the finalists in the healthcare industry category. Congratulations, your application was judged to be one of the best in demonstrating measurable improvements."
The Awards Luncheon will occur on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at the Indiana Convention Center. Alverno Clinical Laboratories will be in attendance.
Winners of this prestigious award program are published in Indiana Business Magazine.
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC of Hammond, Indiana has been chosen as a semi-finalist for the BKD Indiana Excellence Award, 2008.
The centralized laboratory serving 27 hospitals in Illinois and Indiana has received a site visit that serves as the next step for consideration as finalist in the yearly competition held among companies in the State of Indiana. The BKD Award recognizes excellence in business.
Alverno's application demonstrated its commitment to excellence in developing an integrated delivery system for hospitals. Increased quality and control of flow of diagnotic communications contributes to Alverno's attractive position in the market place.
A Heartfelt Goodbye to Our Dear Friend, Dr. Jim Sparks
Dr. Jim Sparks began his Alverno career in 1998 and was the pioneer of our central laboratory. As you may know, he has been appointed Vice President of Innovation at Sisters of St. Francis Health Services and now has a wonderful office at the St. James Heart and Vascular Institute at Olympia Fields. He can now boast of an office with magnificent windows, something many laboratories will be envious of! His responsibilities include working with subject matter expert teams to develop and enhance processes for identifying best practices in critical performance areas, developing workflow models and step-by-step plans for proliferating high priority/high impact best practices throughout SSFHS. He will also be involved in developing insights into and processes for prioritizing emerging medical/clinical technologies, assisting SSFHS Senior Leaders in developing financial and operational plans for implementing high priority technologies, and assisting in accomplishing accreditation, patient safety, patient satisfaction, compliance and other critical area goals within SSFHS.
We wish him well and all of God’s blessings.
Implementing Best Practices Across 27 Hospital Labs - The Dark Report (click on link when directed to new page to see article)
St. Joe's Lab gets new nod
Grand Opening of New Clinic
Lab Techs Earn Week of Thanks-Journal Review
Lab Partnership Exceeds Expectations
Alverno Clinical Laboratories: Best of Blends
Alverno Clinical Laboratories, LLC in Hammond, Indiana inaugurates new automation at its Central LaboratoryAlverno Clinical Labs Roche Automation Ribbon Cutting CeremonyPhotograph by Michael Worden (IS Director)
