Lab Tests Online Passes 5 Million Mark; Receives Kudos from Major Consumer Health Magazine
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACTGeorge Linzer703.534.6355glinzer@aacc.org |
Lab Tests Online Passes 5 Million Mark;
Receives Kudos from Major Consumer Health Magazine
Washington, DC, March 24, 2004— Lab Tests Online, the consumer-focused Web site launched in 2001, hosted its 5-millionth visitor late in February, just weeks after Prevention magazine’s March issue called Lab Tests Online one of the “smartest health sites on the web.”
“This is a milestone that confirms what many of us in the laboratory profession have known for a long time,” said D. Robert Dufour, M.D., a member of the Lab Tests Online Editorial Board. “Patients and their families have needed a credible resource where they could learn about lab tests and get their questions answered. Lab Tests Online fills that need.”
Lab Tests Online is a collaborative project of the laboratory community that is aimed at educating patients about laboratory testing and increasing the visibility of the laboratory profession. Fourteen professional societies, led by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), jointly develop and promote the site. More than 25 corporate sponsors fund the site annually.
According to AACC, the site’s publisher, Lab Tests Online experienced a surge in traffic in February that pushed the site past the 5 million mark and drove monthly traffic above 300,000 visitors for the first time. The site typically sees a sizable increase in traffic at the start of each calendar year, but AACC attributes this year’s dramatic boost to the mention in Prevention, which has the largest circulation of any consumer health magazine in the country.
At current traffic levels, AACC anticipates hosting the 10 millionth visitor to Lab Tests Online sometime in the Spring next year.
Lab Tests Online is a noncommercial, patient-focused, and peer-reviewed site that provides the public with easy-to-understand information on more than 170 laboratory tests. Each test includes a description of what is being tested, how the test is used, when it is performed, and what the test results might mean. Users can also look up one of more than 80 conditions to determine what tests might be used to screen for, diagnose, or monitor treatment for that condition. In addition, Lab Tests Online offers a comparative survey of screening test recommendations from leading authorities.
Lab Tests Online Partners include AACC, ACLA, ASM, ASCLS, CLMA, ASH, AMP, NCCLS, ASCP, CAP, CSMLS, CSCC, CLAS, NACB.
Current Lab Tests Online Sponsors include Bayer Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, Dade Behring, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, DPC, Gen-Probe, Olympus Diagnostic Systems Group, Athena Diagnostics, CanAg Diagnostics, Diagnostic Systems Laboratories, Inc., DiaSorin, Fujirebio Diagnostics, Hycor Biomedical, ITC, Laboratory Health Care Coalition, Nanogen, Nichols Institute Diagnostics, Pharmacia Diagnostics, Randox Laboratories, Renal Care Group, Results Direct, Sebia Electrophoresis, Sunrise Medical Laboratories, and Sysmex.
