SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – March 14, 2002 ARUP Laboratories, Inc., a Utah-based clinical reference laboratory, was recently honored to receive Novation's annual Service Excellence Award. This prestigious award was presented in recognition of ARUP's excellent service to University HealthSystem Consortium's (UHC) more than 85 academic medical centers across the country.

Novation President Mark M. McKenna presented the Service Excellence Award on February 17th during a UHC conference in Chicago. Award selection was based on a survey of UHC members that was conducted by Novation, the supply company of UHC. ARUP's service was compared with all other suppliers of service to UHC members.

“We are delighted to receive this award as recognition of the continuing commitment ARUP employees have to providing service excellence,” remarked K. Owen Ash, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Director of Business Development, who accepted the award on behalf of ARUP.

ARUP Laboratories is a national full-service reference laboratory owned by the Department of Pathology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center. ARUP is a worldwide leader in innovative laboratory research and development, led by the efforts of the ARUP Institute for Clinical and Experimental Pathology, LLC. With revenue of greater than $140 million and more than 1,300 employees, ARUP offers over 2,000 tests and test combinations, ranging from routine cytology screens to highly esoteric molecular and genetic assays. ARUP's clients include university teaching hospitals, multihospital groups, major commercial laboratories, group purchasing organizations, military and government facilities, major clinics, and major pharmaceutical firms. Further information on ARUP Laboratories is available on the Internet at www.aruplab.com.

Based in Irving, Texas, Novation was established in January 1998 through a combination of the supply programs of VHA and UHC, two national health care alliances. Novation serves the purchasing needs of more than 2,300 members and affiliates of VHA and UHC. Novation also serves more than 5,400 members and clients of HealthCare Purchasing Partners International (HPPI), another group purchasing organization owned by VHA and UHC. The largest supply chain management company in health care, Novation manages more than $19 billion in annual purchases. For more information, go to www.novationco.com.

VHA, also based in Irving, is a nationwide network of more than 2,200 leading community-owned health care organizations and their physicians. It comprises 26 percent of the nation's community hospitals. Additional information can be found at www.vha.com.

Founded in 1984, UHC is a member-driven alliance of the nation's leading academic medical centers. It provides such programs and services as clinical and operational benchmarking, technology assessments and publications, comparative clinical and operational databases, and group purchasing agreements. For more information, visit UHC's Web site at www.uhc.edu.

Contact Information:

Owen Ash, Ph.D.
(801) 584-5157