New England Pathology Associates to Manage Life Laboratories

SPRINGFIELD — The Sisters of Providence Health System has announced that New England Pathology Associates (NEPA) is now managing Life Laboratories. This collaboration will make Life Laboratories the first and only physician-led and physician-managed clinical laboratory in the region.

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

This innovative management relationship has already been recognized nationally. NEPA was 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. For physicians and their practices, however, direct access to physician managers will provide a unique feature and benefit,” said Dr. Scott Wolf, senior vice president of Medical Affairs and chief medical officer at Mercy Medical Center. “Please join me in welcoming NEPA to this new role with Life Laboratories, and in thanking these dedicated pathologists for 10 years of outstanding service to Mercy Medical Center and our mutual patients.”

Said Stoddart, “NEPA has a long-standing reputation for offering timely, cost-effective, and clinically relevant services for practitioners and their patients with the type of subspecialty expertise in pathology usually associated with academic medical centers. 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. It serves physicians and their patients in Western Mass. by conducting approximately 4 million tests per year for three hospitals, as well as physician group practices, mental health facilities, dozens of long-term care facilities, and hundreds of physicians.