News Release

HOSPITAL LABORATORY EARNS RECOGNITION FOR QUALITY

Dec. 19, 2005 — UPMC Northwest’s laboratory has earned reaccreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). The organization granted the two-year accreditation with distinction – marking the third time UPMC Northwest has achieved this advanced designation – after inspecting the hospital laboratory earlier this year. The accreditation will extend through 2007.

Accreditation is evidence that a hospital laboratory provides high quality laboratory services. To earn CAP accreditation, a laboratory must meet rigid standards in every aspect of its operations including equipment, facilities, safety, management, staff education and qualifications, and quality assurance, according to Jan Smith, UPMC Northwest’s manager of laboratory services.

UPMC Northwest’s laboratory has 61 staff members who perform over 600,000 tests – more than 1,600 a day – to assist physicians in diagnosing and treating illness.

In addition to performing tests on patients who come to the hospital, UPMC Northwest’s laboratories provide services for seven UPMC Northwest community physician practices in Oil City, Franklin and Emlenton in Venango County, Clarion and Knox in Clarion County, and Grove City in Mercer County. UPMC Northwest also provides lab services for several area nursing homes, home care agencies, physician office practices and other local organizations that need lab services.

Besides its laboratory accreditation, UPMC Northwest holds numerous other accreditations of its health care services. Four of its imaging services (MRI, mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, and ultrasound) are accredited, along with its cancer care and radiation oncology services. UPMC Northwest also holds accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and has been a Solucient 100 Top Hospitals award winner for four straight years in recognition of its outstanding performance as a hospital.