Title
Authorize the Deputy Purchasing Agent for Natividad Medical Center (NMC) or his designee to execute an agreement with Quest Diagnostics, Inc. for reference lab testing services at NMC for an amount not to exceed $3,000,000 with an agreement term July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2021.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended the Board of Supervisors:
Authorize the Deputy Purchasing Agent for Natividad Medical Center (NMC) or his designee to execute an agreement with Quest Diagnostics, Inc. for reference lab testing services at NMC for an amount not to exceed $3,000,000 with an agreement term July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2021.
Quest Diagnostics is the leading provider of diagnostic testing in the nation, and serves approximately 140 million patients each year. Quest Diagnostics is NMC Laboratory's primary reference laboratory, although NMC will use Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital as a reference laboratory on occasion as well. Physicians at NMC and local clinics which send laboratory work to NMC may order such specific types of tests which the NMC Laboratory cannot perform on-site. Therefore, these specific tests must be sent to a reference laboratory. As laboratory technology advances, more and more esoteric tests become available for Physicians and clinics to order, however the NMC laboratory cannot justify bringing in instruments or additional staff for the low volume of every type individual test available. These esoteric tests are used for the diagnosis of disease or monitoring of disease processes and are critical for patient care.
NMC's laboratory has an established interface with Quest diagnostics which allows results to be transferred securely and directly from the testing laboratory to the patient medical record at Natividad Medical Center. A Natividad clinical laboratory scientist verifies the validity of the results before they are finalized in the medical record.
NMC's laboratory staff currently does monitor and shall continue to monitor t...
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