Torrance Memorial Medical Center First in Nation to Receive Leading Laboratories Recognition from ASCP and The Joint Commission

Two-year designation serves as proof of Torrance Memorial’s commitment to laboratory excellence and to help improve patient outcomes.

Torrance Memorial Medical Center today announced it is the first in the nation to receive the Leading Laboratories recognition from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and The Joint Commission. The two-year designation serves as proof of Torrance Memorial’s commitment to laboratory excellence and to help improve patient outcomes.

Torrance Memorial underwent a rigorous application process to receive the recognition, including a review of its outcomes, indicators, metrics and evidence. Additionally, it had to demonstrate excellence in four key areas: elevating quality outcomes, supporting professional development, cultivating trusted leadership and promoting laboratory visibility.

With focus on building a high-quality, state-of-the-art laboratory, the Torrance Memorial Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory (DPCL) initiated a five-year strategic plan based on six key pillars: people and culture, quality, financials, innovation, education, and growth. In 2021, DPCL implemented a robust quality management program. The quality program helped define, establish and maintain a collaborative, systematic and organization-wide approach to quality management.

Additional initiatives have included implementing core lab automation to reduce the outsourcing of select tests, increasing volume of outreach business, reducing turn-around-time, and improving efficiency and productivity. Through a newly produced quarterly newsletter, the DPCL expanded engagement and increased visibility of these new innovations.

Central to the growth of the DPCL was the need to develop high-performing teams. In addition to supporting career development, lab leadership engaged in regular rounding to foster a motivating work climate – recognizing and rewarding outstanding team and individual contributions.

“It is an honor to be the first in the nation to receive the Leading Laboratories recognition. This designation reflects the commitment to excellence by every member of the Torrance Memorial Pathology and Clinical Laboratory,” said Keith Hobbs, executive vice president, Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

“The Leading Laboratories recognition elevates and distinguishes the discerning and empowering work laboratories do for patients every day,” said E. Blair Holladay, PhD, MASCP, SCT(ASCP)^CM, CEO of ASCP. “We congratulate Torrance Memorial Medical Center on its dedication to patient care, and its commitment to raising the visibility of the laboratory as the foundation of healthcare.”

“We congratulate Torrance Memorial Medical Center on being the first in the nation to receive the Leading Laboratories recognition,” said Heather Hurley, executive director, Laboratory Accreditation, The Joint Commission. “As the first hospital laboratory to receive this designation, Torrance Memorial is demonstrating its commitment to laboratory staff through professional development and trusted leadership. It also is promoting laboratory visibility, including the complex work of laboratory staff to provide the continuum of care, to its organization, patients and community.”

The Leading Laboratories recognition, developed and refined by laboratory leaders, is available to all Joint Commission-accredited hospital laboratories. To learn more about the program, please visit leadinglaboratories.org.

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