L+M & Westerly Hospitals Earn 2-Year Reaccreditation from National Organization

The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has awarded re-accreditation to the medical laboratories at Lawrence + Memorial (L+M) and Westerly hospitals.

The hospitals’ medical labs are among the more than 8,000 CAP-accredited facilities worldwide. Re-accreditation occurs every two years and provides assurance to patients that the medical labs meet or exceed the CAP standards.

"CAP accreditation is a reflection of laboratory excellence and sets Westerly Hospital apart in its pursuit of excellence," said Victoria Reyes, MD, chair of Pathology for both hospitals. “Our clinical and anatomic pathology labs provides timely, quality and accurate test results that are important to patients and physicians and inform clinical decision-making.”

The laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation and information management technology and employ a skilled and highly qualified team of managers, medical technologists, technicians and phlebotomists.

The U.S. federal government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, begun in the early 1960s, as being equal-to or more-stringent-than the government's own inspection program.

During the CAP accreditation process, designed to ensure the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients, inspectors examine the laboratory's records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and record, and overall management.

Lawrence + Memorial Hospital is a private not-for-profit, general, acute care hospital that has been serving patients since 1912. L+M is licensed for 280 beds, employs more than 2,000 people and serves 10 shoreline towns between Rhode Island and the Connecticut River, as well as the residents of Fishers Island, NY, in its primary service area. Now part of Yale New Haven Health, L+M is the only hospital in eastern Connecticut with a newborn intensive care unit. It is also the only area hospital able to perform emergency and elective angioplasty.  www.lmhopsital.org.

Westerly Hospital, a member of Yale New Haven Health, is a 125-bed hospital that has been providing residents of southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut with a full range of inpatient and outpatient services in a community hospital setting for more than 90 years. Westerly Hospital patients receive the finest quality treatment in the following areas of care: emergency, medical, surgical, radiology, laboratory and rehabilitative services. The hospital also offers heart and vascular care, interventional pain management, wound care, pulmonary rehabilitation services, inpatient geriatric psychiatric care. www.westerlyhospital.org. 

About the College of American Pathologists - As the world's largest organization of board-certified pathologists and leading provider of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing programs, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. For more information, please see cap.org.