History of the Lab

In the early 1990s, the owners of Physicians Preferred Laboratory (PPL) saw that there was a need for a local clinical laboratory for the city of Amarillo, Texas. In 1994, PPL began operations and became the only full service, locally owned clinical laboratory in the Texas Panhandle. PPL has progressively grown over the past 15 years and continues to serve the physician offices, nursing homes, and small hospitals in towns across the Panhandle of Texas.

Located in the Texas Panhandle and bordered by New Mexico and Oklahoma, Amarillo was first settled in 1887. The name, Amarillo, was taken from the Spanish language meaning "yellow," because of the color of the sub-soil in the channel of the Amarillo Creek. Industry in Amarillo thrived in the early years because of railroading, cattle and merchandising. Presently, Amarillo’s economy is supported by a vast assortment of key industries. Amarillo is known as the “Beef Capital of the World” for its key supplier role in the beef industry, as “Rotary City, USA” for its V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft assembly plant, and as "The Natural Gas Capital of the World" for having one of the world’s most productive helium fields and the world’s largest natural gas development. Pantex, the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility in the country, is also an integral part of Amarillo economy.

The unhurried friendliness of Amarillo was cited as a factor when it was selected in the October 1994 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the "25 Best Cities for Small Business,” the same year that PPL began operations. Factors such as success rates for business, personal incomes, state programs, and cost of living were considered in the selection of the top cities. Deliberate diversification efforts, financed in part by a half-cent economic development sales tax, have helped Amarillo grows its economy. Amarillo was recently voted as one of the top cities in the country to start a business and raise a family.