The College of American Pathologists accreditation is the gold standard - awarded to laboratories meeting healthcare's stringent requirements for quality and safety.
inHealth Life Sciences laboratory in Bozeman Montana has received accreditation from CAP this week. Widely recognized in the science and healthcare community as an industry gold standard, this program is designed and focused towards laboratories looking to meet their strict requirements and maintain operations at the highest level of laboratory accuracy, quality, and safety. inHealth's high complexity laboratory, dedicated towards diagnostic fulfillment for its health system and physician clients boasts state of art methods for COVID-19, LCMS toxicology, and many other esoteric test offerings. The laboratory is certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, also known as CLIA - the regulatory body for laboratory testing in the United States.
"Since day one, we have been committed and focused on achieving the highest standards of accuracy, quality, and safety everyday in our diagnostic laboratory," said Trent McCallson, Chief Executive Officer at inHealth. "We are elated to have finished our last inspection and receive our accreditation from CAP towards ensuring our commitment to our customers, their physicians, and most importantly the patients who rely on them."
inHealth received their CAP accreditation following an extended and rigorous application and inspection process, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Revered and respected inspections by CAP examine laboratory processes and procedures to ensure accuracy and reliability in diagnostic results for patient testing. The inspection also includes a thorough review of the laboratory's records, quality control measures, safety protocols, and procedures in addition to on-site interviews with technologists and laboratory directors.
inHealth's Montana laboratory was built towards fulfilling laboratory demands of their health system outreach programs around the country while market needs are assessed and laboratory expansions could take place at hospital laboratories. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, inHealth's talented team of technologists, lead by laboratory director Dr. Deborah Keil, developed and implemented one of the nation's first saliva based drive thru programs in the nation. In June of 2020, inHealth's team quickly responded to the lack of an available contactless and reliable method to test large patient populations, particularly in undeserved communities. Their initiative included assembling a team of research scientists, program managers, field team members, and software engineers to construct the entire ecosystem required to collect, process, and bill for patient testing.
"What our team was able to accomplish in such a short period of time is nothing short of extraordinary," says Tony Michuda, Chief Strategy Officer at inHealth. "We leaned into our ability to innovate and ever single member of our team stepped up in a big way. For months we were in the field collecting samples and working with patients while simultaneously reporting back to the lab and finding better ways to improve our methods to serve as many patients as we could amidst the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is thanks to this culture and our amazing team that made our CAP accreditation a reality."
