Aculabs is happy to announce that our laboratory director, Dr. Rita Khoury, MD, has been acknowledged as a Certified Point-of-Care Testing Professional by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). Dr. Khoury joins a handful of other professionals from across the international community as the first to receive such a certification from the AACC.

Defined by the AACC as “testing done with or near a patient”, point-of-care testing finds its growing popularity in the advancing technology of clinical science and growing demand for convenient diagnostic procedures that put consumers first. The standards are overseen by the AACC Board of Certification, a non-profit organization for laboratory medicine professionals, in their mission of public interest and advancement of science through established standards of competence.

Per the AACC:

A healthcare expert who passes the certification will be known as a Certified Point-of-Care Testing Professional (CPP). CPPs are certified as competent in point-of-care testing. This means that the certified expert has demonstrated knowledge in U.S. point-of-care regulations and compliance, quality management, education and training, instrument selection and validation/verification, connectivity and information technology, leadership and communication, sample types, policies and procedures, clinical applications, and technology and methodology.

Such demands for residence-centered service have seen Aculabs launch its own Point of Care program. Starting in 2014 as a managed delivery service, our Point of Care program has developed into a bedside blood analysis system that works to keep residents in facilities and readmission rates low. Being able to produce results in minutes – not hours – empowers facilities when handling the care of residents.

This is why such an acknowledgment of Dr. Khoury’s knowledge of point-of-care testing standards and competency not only benefits Aculabs staff but also benefits the facilities that Aculabs services.

Specializing in servicing the long-term care and post-acute industry, Aculabs understands how significant prompt and clinically meaningful diagnosis can be to the treatment of geriatric populations. A few hours difference can be critical for elderly residents and their caregivers. As well, delays in the time it takes to produce results can pose significant risks to facilities. In many situations, it may become essential to send residents to a hospital in the absence of timely diagnoses. Point of care works to fulfill such a need and avoid these scenarios.

As such, in a time of dwindling reimbursement rates and growing dissatisfaction amongst many people regarding the cost of healthcare, both facilities and laboratories feel the mounting pressure to improve our diagnostic procedures, emphasizing efficacy and timeliness. Aculabs continues to face these growing pressures and new challenges head on to deliver on its mission: dedicated service committed to improving the quality care of residents.

Click here for more information on the AACC’s Point-of-Care Testing Professional Certification.