On The Spot e-News
Volume 3, Issue 12 | December 2008
The 59.7 inches of snow that fell in Spokane in December were the most in any month since record keeping began in 1881. Many thanks to our dedicated staff for keeping the laboratory running during these treacherous conditions.
In this issue:
Year-end Recap
2008 was a year of unprecedented growth for Signature. By the end of the year the company will have processed over 28,000 clinical microarrays since its inception in 2004. Signature now has 80 full-time employees, up from 50 a year ago; to accomodate this growth, in May Signature completed construction of an 18,000-square-foot space for its headquarters and laboratory. Since occupying the new facility, Signature’s growth has exceeded that office space, requiring the expansion into 4,600 square feet of leased office space in downtown Spokane.
This year Signature also hosted its inaugural Scientific Microarray Conference, which was attended by almost fifty Signature clients who traveled from as far away as Qatar to listen to colleagaues present their experiences with Signature microarrays. Judging from attendees’ feedback, the conference was a great success; Signature will use that input to build on that success for next year’s conference.
Signature’s growth earned the company accolades from Inc. magazine, which ranked the company one of the fastest-growing private companies in America; Signature was ranked 114th in the nation and 4th in the state of Washington, and its CEO, Lisa Shaffer, was named one of the top female CEOs in the country.
We at Signature thank you, our clients, colleagues and partners, for your continued support; our success would not be possible without you.
Signature’s Patient Advocacy Program Assists with Patient Insurance Billing
This year Signature introduced its Patient Advocacy Program to assist patients and their families with obtaining insurance coverage for microarray analysis. Patients with private insurance can request, through their provider, an insurance benefits investigation prior to or concurrent with sample processing. Signature’s Patient Advocacy Team communicates with the patient’s insurance carrier on the patient’s behalf to determine the benefits available for clinical laboratory testing. If the insurance carrier refuses to pay for all or part of the charge, the Patient Advocacy Team will work with the patient to submit an appeal or develop an alternate payment plan. Through the program, patients with private insurance are not required to pay a deposit prior to the initiation of testing.
Please visit the Patient Advocacy Program page to learn how your patients can benefit from this program.