TriCore Reference Laboratories

What it reported doing in 2024

Education: tricore, inc. Trains a wide array of students in New Mexico, from high school students to post-doctorate fellows. All students above high school meet specific requirements for their programs through their training at tricore. New Mexico colleges and universities do not offer these clinical rotations, so students have to come to tricore to complete their programs. Tricore receives no fees for this training. The sheer volume of samples tested at tricore only serves to enhance the educational programs at tricore. Students receive more exposure to a wider range of pathologies and diseases because of the amount of testing done at tricore. Following are among the training programs provided by tricore:- high school level: the high school dual-credit program (20 to 40 students per year at 30 hours per student) introduces medical lab sciences to high school students and is a pre-requisite to phlebotomy and medical lab technician programs at a local community college. Also, tricore offers job shadowing for 20 albuquerque public school students per year.- phlebotomy program - tricore trains more than 250 phlebotomy students per year from nine state community colleges and universities in New Mexico. The students spend 100 hours each at tricore for their clinical requirements.- medical lab technician program - tricore trains 18 to 22 students from community college and university programs. The students spend 384 hours each at tricore.- medical lab scientist program - tricore trains about 30 students a year in mls programs from several universities. Students spend 450 to 720 hours at tricore.- graduate and post-doctoral programs - tricore provides several programs for about 25 graduate and post-doctoral students from the university of New Mexico, including the hematopathology fellowship program; the transfusion medicine fellowship program; the molecular genetics fellowship program; the cytopathology fellowship program; and the pathology resident clinical rotations in transfusion medicine, cytology, anatomic pathology, clinical chemistry, toxology, immunology, hematopathology, coagulation, infectious disease, molecular diagnostics, informatics, sample management, and client engagement (aka the hot seat). All of these programs support the accreditation council for graduate medical education training requirements for pathology residents and fellows. - pharmacy programs - tricore trains up to 10 student pharmacists per year from the university of New Mexico doctor of pharmacy program for their advanced pharmacy practice experience elective rotation. The students spend 16 hours each at tricore, and the program fulfills the pharm.d experiential training requirements by the board of pharmacy.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 87.2%; rating input score 87
• Program expense ratio: 86.9%; rating input score 87
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -0.4%; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.36; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 0.4%; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 32.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 17.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -13% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings