PHOENIX and TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Humana Inc. announced today that its Arizona market operations based in Phoenix is adding Tempe-based Sonora Quest Laboratories to its network for outpatient laboratory services. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Sonora Quest Laboratories is a joint venture of Banner Health Systems of Phoenix and Quest Diagnostics, based in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Humana members will benefit from this new arrangement by extending the geographical access to outpatient laboratory centers throughout the state. Sonora Quest Laboratories also has a commitment to keeping wait times at their patient service centers to 20 minutes or less.
“We were very pleased with Sonora Quest’s focus on continually looking at how they can improve the customer experience, which mirror’s Humana’s business philosophy of keeping the customer’s needs and expectations first and foremost in the service we provide to them,” said Dan Hoemke, president of Humana- Arizona.
In 2003, Sonora Quest was the recipient of the Arizona Pioneer Award for Quality, the first health care provider in Arizona to receive the award. With Humana’s focus on quality improvement through achieving ISO 9000: 2001 registration of six divisions, Sonora Quest’s Six Sigma company-wide philosophy and quality improvement initiatives were an important part of the evaluation process to include them in Humana’s provider network.
“Humana understands the importance of seeing health care through the eyes of the consumer and continuously enhancing the experience. We’re excited to be added to the Humana provider network. Sonora Quest will provide Humana members with outstanding clinical lab services. Our passion is to provide every patient and every customer with services and products of uncompromising quality - error free, on time, every time,” said David Dexter, president and chief executive officer of Sonora Quest Laboratories.
Sonora Quest performs more than 45,000 diagnostic tests daily with 98 percent of the testing done in house. Humana’s network physicians will be able to order testing and receive results . . . all online through a highly encrypted, secure Website that physicians can access using their own equipment. The Sonora Quest online option is HIPAA compliant.
Pathology Specialists of Arizona provides Sonora Quest with more than 50-board certified pathologists. Sonora Quest has sixty-five patient service centers, including multilingual sites, located throughout Arizona.
About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation’s largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with approximately 5.8 million medical members located primarily in 15 states and Puerto Rico. Humana offers coordinated health insurance coverage and related services through traditional and Internet based plans - to employer groups, government- sponsored plans, and individuals.
More information regarding Humana is available via the Internet at http://www.humana.com/ , including copies of:
- Annual report to stockholders; - Securities and Exchange Commission filings; - Most recent investor conference presentation; - Quarterly earnings press releases; - Audio archive of most recent earnings release conference call; - Calendar of events (includes upcoming earnings conference call dates, times, and access number, as well as planned participation in investor conferences) - Corporate Governance About Sonora Quest Laboratories
Sonora Quest Laboratories located in Tempe, Arizona is part of an integrated clinical laboratory system. The integrated system employs more than 1750 staff members statewide. Sonora Quest Laboratories services more than 5000 clients including physicians, managed care organizations, employers, and hospitals. Operations include primary testing facilities located in Tempe and Tucson, Arizona. More information about Sonora Quest can be found at their website at http://www.sonoraquest.com/ .
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030425/HUMANALOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.comHumana Inc.
CONTACT: Mary Sellers, Corporate Communications of Humana,+1-502-580-3689, or msellers1@humana.com ; or Linda Hausman, Marketing Managerof Sonora Quest +1-602-685-5280, or linda.hausman@bannerhealth.com
Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/423125.html