Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

new tools for diagnostic tests, but its methods are actively
shared with the world through scientific publications, presentations,
open-source databases, free multimedia based
education, and technology licenses.
One of the nation’s top reference laboratories, ARUP is
nationally recognized for excellence. Their teams of genetic
counselors works with ordering physicians to ensure tests are
properly ordered, saving clients thousands of dollars per
month. In addition, its products and services are designed to
help clients implement new healthcare delivery models,
including ACOIs, patient-centered medical homes, and other
variations. It offers diagnostic lab testing services to more
than one thousand clients, including academic hospitals,
children’s hospitals, multi-hospital groups, major commercial
laboratories, group-purchasing organizations, military and
government facilities, and major clinics in all fifty states.
ARUP’s eighty medical directors are all faculty members
at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and most
hold academic appointments within the Department of
Pathology. Centrally located in Salt Lake City, ARUP has one
of the fastest, most consistent result turnaround times in
the industry. It performs 99 percent of all testing on-site
in one central location, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days
per week and processing an average of 30,000 to 55,000
specimens of blood, body fluid, and tissue biopsies daily.
ARUP’s Specimen Processing Division, which is comprised
of both human operators and automated systems, records
an error rate of less than one per 8,000 and is working to
reduce that number.
ARUP’s state-of-the-art Blood Bank and Transfusion
Center is the sole source of blood and blood components
for the University of Utah Hospital, Huntsman Cancer
Hospital, Shriners Hospital for Children, and Primary
Children’s Medical Center, and provides twenty-five percent
of all blood transfused in Utah.
The ARUP Institute for Clinical
and Experimental Pathology ® , which
was founded in 1996, is charged with
providing R&D services to ARUP.
The institute improves current lab
tests, evaluates new technologies,
creates original methods and
reagents, and conducts numerous
research projects.
Noting that ARUP is unique in
many ways, Ashwood notes that
ARUP clients “value our patientcomes-first
philosophy and are
extremely loyal, providing us with
stability in an unstable economy.”
He emphasizes that ARUP cares
about its clients and its employees,
adding, “We don’t compete with our
clients for physician-office business, choosing instead to
support clients’ existing test menus by offering esoteric,
highly complex tests and accompanying consultative support,
so that they can provide local and regional laboratory
services in their communities.”
With a focus on integrity and service, ARUP creates a culture
of trust and respect for its employees, who are provided
with training, support, empowerment, assistance in developing
a healthy work/live balance, and a safe and progressive
work environment, Ashwood says. “We offer an excellent,
award-winning benefit package, including a free on-site
health clinic and fitness center, as well as a profit-sharing
retirement plan and tuition reimbursement,” he points out.
“Our employees regularly vote ARUP one of the best places
in the state to work. We realize that every employee is an
integral part of the ARUP family and remain dedicated to
their success.”
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