January 27, 2012

Sisters of Providence Health System announces new laboratory collaboration

 

REGIONAL

(Photo courtesy SPHS)

Staff report

SPRINGFIELD – The Sisters of Providence Health System (SPHS) has announced that New England Pathology Associates, P.C. (NEPA)will be managing Life Laboratories, effective Feb. 1. 

The collaboration will make Life Laboratories the first and only physician-lead and physician-managed clinical laboratory in the region.

Dr. Lanu Stoddart (pictured above left) will serve as the pathologist administrator, directing the operation and growth of Life Laboratories. A member of NEPA since November 2009, Dr. Stoddart has extensive experience in clinical pathology laboratory operations, serving in the past as medical director of S.E.D. Medical Laboratories in New Mexico and currently as chief of pathology at Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge, Mass. Dr. Krystyna Sikorska (above right) will continue in her role as medical director of Life Laboratories.

The innovative management relationship has been recognized nationally, with NEPA invited to formally present its concept at the 2012 G2 Intelligence Pathology Institute Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“For patients, the change at Life Laboratories will be transparent. Likewise, daily operations of Life Laboratories will remain essentially unchanged,” said Scott Wolf, senior vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer of Mercy Medical Center. “For physicians and their practices, however, direct access to physician managers will provide a unique feature and benefit.”

“Please join me in welcoming NEPA to this new role with Life Laboratories and in thanking these dedicated pathologists for ten years of outstanding service to Mercy Medical Center and our mutual patients,” Wolf said in a written statement.

“NEPA has a long-standing reputation for offering timely, cost-effective and clinically relevant services for practitioners and their patients with the type of sub-specialty expertise in pathology usually associated with academic medical centers,” said Dr. Stoddart. “NEPA’s experienced pathologists provide accurate and meaningful diagnoses to facilitate appropriate clinical care, and we are pleased to be able to bring this same commitment to the services of Life Laboratories.” 

Life Laboratories is a full-service medical diagnostic laboratory serving physicians and their patients in western Massachusetts. The laboratory conducts approximately 4 million tests per year for three hospitals, physician group practices, mental health facilities, dozens of long-term care facilities and hundreds of physicians.