St. Joseph’s Health Upgrading its Hospital-Based Lab to Better Meet Community Demand

SYRACUSE, N.Y.— St. Joseph’s Health is pleased to announce that construction is underway to expand laboratory services at the Hospital. As announced earlier this year, the healthcare system is divesting its co-ownership of Laboratory Alliance of Central New York (LACNY) in January 2024. This move allows for the expansion of a high-tech Anatomic Pathology laboratory at the Hospital that is designed to optimize work processes and enable faster delivery. In addition, St. Joseph’s Health and St. Peter’s Health Partners are evaluating ways to share resources to better serve the needs of both regions.

“The demand for high-quality lab services in our community remains strong,” said Meredith Price, Senior Vice President of Acute Operations at St. Joseph’s Health. “To meet that demand, we’re expanding our Anatomic Pathology area by 1,600 square feet, which will allow us to better process the approximately 45,000 pathology and cytology specimens that originate at our facilities every year.”

Effective January 2024, laboratory testing that is currently being sent from St. Joseph’s Physician practices to LACNY will be redirected to the St. Joseph’s Health Hospital laboratory. A new lab information system, Epic Beaker, is also being integrated. The total cost of the project is $9.1 million and will result in dozens of new jobs.

“We have extended offers to all the LACNY employees who work at the existing hospital-based Rapid Response Lab,” said Price. “We also started recruitment efforts in the community a few months ago and continue to bring new colleagues into St. Joseph’s laboratory positions with each orientation,” said Price.

St. Joseph’s Health is offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus to all new lab hires and a $5,000 referral bonus to current St. Joseph’s Health employees and new lab colleagues who refer someone to a lab position.

About St. Joseph’s Health
St. Joseph’s Health is non-profit health care system based in Syracuse, NY. St. Joseph’s has been an innovative leader in health care since our founding in 1869 as the first hospital open to the public in the city of Syracuse. Offering primary, specialty and home care, a Magnet-recognized hospital, and collaboration with community partners, St. Joseph's Health advances the well-being of the communities we serve through an expanding range of services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. It is ranked by Consumer Reports among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country, a designated Primary Stroke Center and a U.S. News & World Report “Best Regional Hospital.” St. Joseph’s Health is affiliated with St. Joseph’s Physicians, and is a member of Trinity Health.

About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, Catholic health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 115,000 colleagues and nearly 26,000 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 25 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 88 hospitals, 131 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 125 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. Based in Livonia, Michigan, its annual operating revenue is $20.2 billion with $1.2 billion returned to its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs.

 

###