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Sonora Quest Laboratories Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Friday, November 17, 2017   |   Category: Press Releases

Nation’s largest integrated laboratory system marks two decades of technological and customer-focused advances.

TEMPE, Ariz. (November 17, 2017) – Tempe-based Sonora Quest Laboratories is marking a significant milestone this year, as it celebrates its 20th year of operations.

The market share leader in clinical laboratory testing in Arizona, the company was founded in 1997 as a joint venture between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics, and today, provides diagnostic testing to more than 23,000 Arizonans daily.

Over the past 20 years of serving the Arizona community, Sonora Quest Laboratories has grown exponentially and now performs nearly 60 million tests each year, has more than 3,100 employees and more than 70 Patient Service Centers, including 10 locations in Safeway stores.

To meet the demands of all healthcare constituents in an ever-changing landscape, Sonora Quest Laboratories has even bigger ambitions for expansion and innovation in the next several years, including introducing self-service check-in kiosks in its Patient Service Centers, launching a new mobile-friendly website with enhanced functionality for consumers and healthcare providers alike, and expanding its AIM™ analytics services to meet the demand for population health management.

“I am incredibly proud of Sonora Quest’s growth. For 20 years, our team has driven value for customers across the continuum of care. That dedication has positioned us as the trusted leader in diagnostic testing throughout Arizona. We look forward to celebrating with our customers by announcing some exciting initiatives over the next few months to further improve the patient experience, so stay tuned,” noted Dave Dexter, CEO of Sonora Quest Laboratories. He added, “I am particularly proud of My Lab ReQuest, a new initiative that helps patients take control of their health by offering an array of affordable tests directly to consumers without the need for a doctor’s order.”

Changing Delivery of Lab Services: 20 Milestones in 20 Years

In honor of this anniversary, the following 20 milestones are being celebrated and remembered by Sonora Quest’s senior leadership and long-tenured employees:

1. 1997: Sonora Quest Laboratories is formed.
2. 1998: Consolidated and moved the main Phoenix-area laboratories into its current campus in Tempe.
3. 1999: David A. Dexter becomes CEO of Sonora Quest Laboratories—and is CEO to this day.
4. 2000: Integrated Six Sigma methodologies into the organization for continual process improvement and quality assurance.
5. 2002: Opened Sonora Quest Laboratories of Tucson to better serve the communities in Southern Arizona.
6. 2004: Won its first Best Places to Work award, a recognition that has been received a total of ten times.
7. 2005: Received the Arizona Governor’s Award for Quality becoming the only healthcare company to this day to have received this distinction.
8. 2006: Opened Sonora Quest Laboratories of Northern Arizona and the 50^th Patient Service Center in the Phoenix area.
9. 2008: Launched online appointment scheduling on SonoraQuest.com—a convenient way for patients to schedule their appointments and avoid long wait times.
10. 2010: Expanded Northern and Southern Arizona operations by opening laboratories in Prescott and Yuma to provide laboratory services to even more patient populations.
11. 2010: Launched a redesigned website, SonoraQuest.com, with enhanced functionality, user-friendly navigation and online bill pay capabilities.
12. 2011: Received the Better Business Bureau of Greater Arizona’s Business Ethics Award.
13. 2012: Voted the #1 Bioscience Firm in Arizona for the first time—a recognition Sonora Quest has received each year since, including recently in 2017.
14. 2014: CEO Dave Dexter awarded the Laboratory Public Service National Leadership Award for Business Creativity and Innovation.
15. 2014: Converted to a new, state-of-the-art, patient-centric laboratory information system called NeTLIMS, which is used to facilitate testing from the point of data entry to the reporting of results.
16. 2015: Collaborated with Safeway to open the first of 10 PSCs conveniently located inside Safeway stores in Phoenix, West Valley, Northern Arizona and Tucson.
17. 2015: Launched My Lab ReQuest™ direct access testing, offering patients the ability to order more than 45 affordable wellness and screening lab tests without a doctor’s order.
18. 2015: Rolled out its first AIM™ (Actionable Insights Management) reports to assist physicians with population health and disease state management of their patients—helping improve patient health while reducing costs.
19. 2017: Received IMPACT Award as an Exceptional Innovator from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
20. 2017: Partnered with Mountainside Fitness to offer a select menu of My Lab ReQuest™ wellness screens and health profiles to Mountainside Fitness members, empowering them to take control of their health by ordering certain lab tests on their own.

About Sonora Quest Laboratories

Sonora Quest Laboratories, a joint venture between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), is part of the nation’s largest integrated laboratory system with approximately 3,100 employees serving more than 23,000 patients every day throughout Arizona. Sonora Quest Laboratories is the market share leader in clinical laboratory testing in Arizona, performing more than 60 million diagnostic tests per year. Sonora Quest Laboratories offers a local comprehensive test menu which encompasses routine, molecular, prescription drug monitoring, genetics/genomics, and pathology testing services. Ninety-eight percent of all testing is performed at our primary testing facilities located in Tempe, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott and Yuma. Sonora Quest Laboratories is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) which is the gold standard in laboratory accreditation, helping laboratories to maintain accuracy of test results and ensure accurate patient diagnosis. This accreditation ensures the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients as CAP inspectors examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and records, and overall management.