News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Prior to IPO Pathology Company Aurora Diagnostics Gets New $335 Million Credit Line

Anatomic pathology firm hopes proposed sale of stock will bring in up to $150 million

Anatomic pathology company Aurora Diagnostics, Inc., of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, just announced a new credit facility that will give it access to as much as $335 million should all conditions be met. Aurora Diagnostics hopes to raise $150 million from an initial public offering (IPO) of its stock, for which it filed registration documents in April.

Aurora Diagnostics was founded in June 2006, by former Ameripath, Inc., executives James New and Marty Stefanelli and was originally funded by Summit Partners and GSO Capital Partners. Over the past four years, Aurora Diagnostics says it has acquired 17 pathology practices. Its revenue for 2009 totaled $171 million, with EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes, and amortization) of $28 million and net income of $9 million.

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MountainStar–PAML Lab Joint Venture Doubles in Size in 24 Months

Hospital/commercial lab JV finds success in competitive Salt Lake City market

DATELINE: SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—Since its formation less than two years ago, MountainStar Clinical Laboratories, LLC, has more than doubled in size. This unique laboratory outreach joint venture is a partnership between MountainStar Healthcare and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories (PAML).

To learn more about this fast-growing joint venture, last week, Dark Daily traveled to Salt Lake City to visit MountainStar Clinical Laboratories, LLC . First, some background about this partnership.

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James Peter, M.D., Ph.D., Founder of Specialty Laboratories, Dies of Cancer

Peter Built His Company into a Major National Esoteric Laboratory

One of laboratory medicine’s most successful scientist-entrepreneurs died last Friday, October 30, 2009. James B. Peter M.D., Ph.D., Founder of Specialty Laboratories, Inc., died in his home in Santa Monica, California of complications from cancer. He was 76 years old.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, it was 1958 when Peter earned his M.D. from St. Louis University. He then went to the University of Minnesota where he earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1963. It was here that he worked with Professor Paul D. Boyer, Ph.D., a laureate for the 1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Peter also worked with Boyer at UCLA. At UCLA, Peter served as Professor, Clinical Professor, and College of Letters and Sciences Advisory Board Member. He had a strong interest in clinical chemistry and immunology.

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Revisiting September 1999: Big Lab News Was AML’s Merger with APL

It was The Dark Report’s headline story ten years ago this month!

Introducing a new feature: Ten Years Ago in The Dark Report
To give Dark Daily readers better context about unfolding events in the laboratory industry, we are pleased to introduce this feature which will appear regularly. Each month, we will dive into our archives and share with you the key events of ten years ago, along with an update to those companies and laboratory executives.

American Medical Labs Merges with Associated Pathologists Lab in 1999

In its September 20, 1999 issue, The Dark Report disclosed that Las Vegas-based Associated Pathologists Laboratories (APL) would be merging with American Medical Laboratories (AML) of Chantilly, Virginia. This bi-coastal merger created the third largest commercial laboratory organization in the United States.

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Seattle’s Valley Medical Center says: “Quest Out, PACLAB In!”

Today in Renton, Washington, Valley Medical Center announced a new comprehensive contractual relationship involving medical laboratory services with PACLAB Network Laboratories of Bellevue, Washington. This is a significant development in the Greater Seattle market for several reasons.

First, it means that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) has lost another important hospital relationship in Greater Seattle, once again to PACLAB. It was back in December, 2003, when 244-bed Evergreen Hospital Medical Center of Kirkland, Washington, similarly terminated its comprehensive laboratory testing relationship with Quest Diagnostics and became part of the PACLAB regional laboratory network.

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