FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Medical Clinic of Houston L.L.P. – Houston, Texas
April 24, 2013
New State-of-the-Art Technology Will Enhance Laboratory Efficiency and Patient Care at Medical Clinic of Houston, L.L.P.
Facility is first US physician practice to install Roche laboratory automation system
HOUSTON – Medical Clinic of Houston, L.L.P. (MCH) has enhanced its laboratory capabilities with advanced technology that will enable it to respond more quickly and efficiently to physician requests for laboratory tests. The laboratory equipment upgrade includes new Roche Diagnostics analyzers and automation system that is the first of its kind to be installed in a private physician practice in the U.S. The MCH laboratory recently unveiled the new equipment at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Roche and Clinic employees.
“This advanced technology will help make our lab much more efficient,” said Martin White, M.D., Managing Partner of Medical Clinic of Houston. “The analyzers provide broad testing capabilities that will further enhance our practice of medicine, and the automation system eliminates manual, time-consuming steps required to prepare samples for testing. This is just another step in our commitment to continuously improve the quality of patient care we provide, while supporting our medical staff with the tools they need.”
MCH decided to upgrade and automate the laboratory as pressures from payors continue to escalate and the increasing demand for primary care physicians encourages MCH to add Internal Medicine physicians to its medical staff. The highly compact Roche system consolidates more than 95% of routine testing, potentially helping the MCH laboratory to operate with fewer specialty analyzers and optimize the efficiency of its staff.
“We process more than 5,200 tests per day, and that demand is continuing to grow,” said Liza Muro Scillieri, MCH laboratory manager. “We found ourselves needing to accomplish more every day, and it was beginning to take a toll on our personnel. This new system will let us improve efficiency and support our goal of producing fast and accurate test results. The Roche equipment has a flexible design so it can grow as our needs change.”
The new equipment, manufactured by Roche Diagnostics, includes the cobas® 6000 analyzer series, which analyzes blood samples for chemistry tests, and the MODULAR PRE-ANALYTICS automation system, which automates costly manual steps and improves safety while preparing blood samples for analysis. The two systems are connected, so a patient’s blood sample can now pass through the complete preparation and analysis process, untouched by human hands.
About Medical Clinic of Houston
Medical Clinic of Houston’s board-certified physicians specialize in the field of Internal Medicine. Twenty-eight of MCH’s physicians focus on general internal medicine and thirteen physicians practice in various sub-specialties of Internal Medicine including Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Oncology, Rheumatology, and Hospitalist Medicine. MCH offers an extensive range of accredited diagnostic testing and ancillary services onsite, providing enhanced care and convenience for patients. For more information on Medical Clinic of Houston, visit www.mchllp.com
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.
For further information please contact:
KAREN C. RAINEY, J.D., C.M.P.E. Executive Administrator (713) 520-4790
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, infectious diseases, inflammation, metabolism and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2012 Roche had over 82,000 employees worldwide and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 45.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.
COBAS is a trademark of Roche.