The strength of the Team is each individual member.
The strength of each individual member is The Team.

– Leon C. Megginson

From the Wisconsin border in Northern Illinois down to Peoria and through Northern Indiana, NICL operates with a commitment to service and patient care across the Midwest. This is a commitment that each member of our organization shares and makes our company what it is today.

  • 1977

     

    NICL FOUNDED BY DR. GEOFFREY KENT PhD

    NICL first began when Dr. Geoffrey Kent, PhD – Chief Pathologist for Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Professor at NU Medical School, and former WWII military doctor – became Medical Director of Lab Services at McHenry Hospital. At that time Dr. Kent was a nationally known leader in liver pathology research with over 150 published articles. But to his community and colleagues he was mostly known for his strong teaching orientation and mentorship to his students and those with whom he worked.

  • 1977–1984

    COMPANY TEAM, VALUES & MISSION TAKE SHAPE

    NICL began attracting attention outside the hospital walls from providers requiring fast turnarounds on testing. NICL grew and moved to its own newly built facility in McHenry in 1984. This facility became its first independent lab and patient service center and led to acquisition of the most advanced lab instrumentation known it its day. From here, the once small hospital-based laboratory would rapidly expand its outreach to physicians, clinics, long-term care, and outpatients throughout northern Illinois.

     

    1977–1984

  • 1985–1996

     

    NICL EXPANDS ITS SERVICE FOOTPRINT

    From a beginning that emphasized the most advanced technology and high service quality, NICL soon outgrew its original lab, and realized the benefit of multiple independent locations for a wider market impact. Over the next decade, NICL expanded its area of service through client referrals, internal growth, and 14 different competitor acquisitions, enabling service to more remote regions.

  • 1996

    HEADQUARTERS MOVES TO NORTHBROOK

    NICL headquarters moves to 306 Era Drive.

     

    1996

  • Late 1990s–PRESENT

     

    WHILE COMPETITORS RISE & FALL,
    NICL EMERGES STRONGER THAN EVER

    Throughout this time, the clinical laboratory sector in the Midwest expanded and contracted in dramatic arcs, with fierce but ultimately transitory competitors setting up shop and folding with that tide. While fraud and misconduct consumed multiple competitive players, NICL stayed the course all the while absorbing the service responsibilities of its failed competitors. A singular survivor in an environment that cannot tolerate excess or waste.

  • 2020

    NICL TEAM GOES INTO OVERDRIVE AT PANDEMIC’S EPICENTER

    While outbreaks of COVID-19 swept the globe and the world went into lockdown, NICL and its dedicated staff went into overdrive to continue providing critical lab services to its clients. NICL did not cease operations for a single day amid the global panic, while revenues from base testing plummeted. By late 2020, NICL is finally able to procure COVID testing instruments in short supply, and is able to begin offering in-house PCR testing with 24-hour turn-around for its clients.

     

    2020

  • Today

     

    ONE OF THE TOP DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORIES IN CHICAGOLAND

    NICL is one of the top largest independent diagnostic testing laboratories in the greater Chicagoland area and provides service to tens of thousands of patients on a daily basis through service arrangements at hundreds of client facilities, including long-term care and assisted living facilities, hospitals, physician offices, and research institutions across the Midwest.

Our mission

  • Service to Humanity

    To care for life’s precious gift of health is a calling of the highest order. We recognize the vulnerability that accompanies fear and hope. We accept responsibility entrusted to us everyday to serve humanity.

  • Excellence in Performance

    By bringing together talented, dedicated people and advanced technology. We take pride in ourselves, our colleagues, and our workplace. We demonstrate that pride in the quality of service we deliver each day.

  • Respect for the Individual

    We treat all people with dignity, respect, devotion, and compassion. We believe that every person is unique, and has the right to participation in the matters that affect him or her.

  • Value of Employees

    More than buildings and equipment; people are the NICL system. Our success depends on fairness and individual respect. All employees are provided opportunity to make meaningful contributions to the fulfillment of our mission and are recognized for their accomplishments.

  • Integrity in Relations

    We are committed to fairness and honesty in all of our relations. We recognize that our ability to sustain relations, based on mutual trust, is the foundation of our success.

  • Community Responsibility

    To provide quality health care and continuous efforts to contain costs. We accept the responsibility to support research, education, and public service programs that enrich the quality of life in our community.

  • Equal Access

    We believe all people deserve equal access to care and service. In our pursuit of this belief, we are constrained by financial resources. We must balance our commitment to provide equal access to care and service with our obligation to ensure the continuing availability of quality health care for the future.

Laboratory Accreditation

NICL Laboratories is a fully accredited and certified laboratory, licensed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the provisions of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA 1988). The laboratory is also accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).

  • NPI #1659373900

  • CAP AU-ID #1189350

  • LAP #2768007

  • CLIA #14D0427920

  • Medicare Provider #148479

 

Quality Assurance

The purpose of the Laboratory Quality Assurance Plan is to function as part of a comprehensive effort to provide appropriate, high quality patient care and services by establishing and monitoring levels of performance for clinical testing and patient services performed by the Laboratory.

The NICL Quality Assurance Plan is designed to monitor the accuracy, the precision, and reliability of the day-to-day analytical test results by maintaining the required quality of reagents; maintaining the desired performance of all instruments used; selecting the most appropriate method for the needs of the laboratory; maintaining proper technical skill of the personnel; reviewing current methodology and revising such if necessary in order to improve the quality of work; managing the use of control material; participation in a proficiency testing program; properly documenting all quality control data, daily activities, and patient data; evaluate and document all corrective actions; and maintaining a safe working environment.

NICL has established activities and mechanisms which allow for effective identification of potential problems; objective assessment of the cause of those problems; implementation of actions designed to eliminate problems; monitoring activities that assure the elimination of problems; documentation and reporting to ensure the highest quality patient care and/or service; and Training, Continuing Education, and Competency Evaluation programs.

Repeat Determinations

We will repeat a test without charge whenever, in the physician’s opinion, the result does not correlate with the patient’s clinical profile. Please call the laboratory as soon as possible after the original result is reported. When requesting a repeat determination on a new specimen, include the prior laboratory order number and explain the circumstances for the request on the test requisition accompanying the new specimen.

Follow-up or confirmatory testing is not considered a repeat determination. These specimens will be processed and billed as a new request.

To request a copy of our current licenses or certificates
please call 847-509-9779, option 2.

one of the largest independent diagnostic testing laboratories in the greater Chicagoland area

306 Era Drive
Northbrook, IL 60062
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Outpatient Services

Mon-Fri 9:30am – 3pm
Walk-ins accepted or make an appointment to avoid a wait.
Call (847) 509 9779 x200 or Schedule Online

 
NICL Laboratories

TRUSTED LEADER SINCE 1977

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