MU Health, Mayo Clinic partner for faster testing
MU Health Care recently enlisted Mayo Medical Laboratories as its main source of advanced laboratory testing. The partnership is projected to save MU Health Care more than $1 million annually by consolidating specialized tests, thus reducing the cost of outsourcing those tests to different laboratories.
“University of Missouri Health Care offers approximately 3,000 different lab tests,” said Dr. William Miller, director of clinical laboratories and transfusion medicine for MU. “Of these, there are about 200 specialized tests that require the use of outside laboratories. Prior to the partnership between MU Health Care and Mayo Medical Laboratories, these specialized tests were sent to about 50 different laboratories.”
Additionally, this collaboration makes test results more accessible for patients and providers through MU’s electronic records, and it allows physicians and other staff access to Mayo Clinic’s large menu of laboratory tests. MU physicians will be able to communicate with Mayo physicians and scientists to interpret test results and review patient orders.
Through support services and dialogue, Mayo Medical Laboratories and MU Health Care will also now work together to improve the test menu at MU.
“Mayo Medical Laboratories will help us build on and diversify in-house lab testing at MU Health Care,” Miller said. “Our highly skilled laboratory staff members perform more than one million lab tests each year, and this new relationship will further enhance their expertise and benefits to our patients.”
Test specimens gathered at MU Health Care will be flown to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where the test results will usually be available to patients and physicians online the following day.
Miller sees the partnership as a sound decision for both business and health. He said, “By consolidating services with Mayo Clinic, we will be saving time and money.”
Photo provided by MU Health Care
