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Referral/Sendouts

Advanced Technology Laboratory, Cytology, Education & Training, Referral/Sendouts

New Test: HPV High Risk Screen with HPV Genotype Reflex

Effective August 26, 2024,  Corewell Health Laboratories West will be updating their High-Risk HPV testing.  The new assay will be performed on the Abbott Alinity m at Corewell Health Reference Laboratory West, Grand Rapids.  Testing will now automatically include HPV Genotype results whenever HPV is detected.  There will no longer be a separate charge to the patient for HPV Genotype testing.

There will also be an expanded number of High-Risk HPV Genotypes reported:

  • HPV Genotype 16
  • HPV Genotype 18
  • HPV Genotype 45
  • HPV Genotype 31/33/52/58
  • HPV Genotype 35/39/51/56/59/66/68

The new assay is FDA approved for Primary screening in addition to co-testing.

Post hysterectomy vaginal specimens will still be a send out test (LAB1230722). Continue Reading

August 13, 2024 by
Main lab, Microbiology, Referral/Sendouts

Measles Ordering and Collecting Specimens

With several suspected cases of measles within Michigan, we thought it would be an excellent time to highlight Corewell Health West’s guidance on testing suspected patients. Specimens are sent to a reference lab for testing, which must be coordinated with local public health departments. Typically an upper-respiratory swab (throat or nasopharyngeal)  is collected for PCR testing in addition to a serum for measles IgM if collection is possible.

  • Patients should not be directed to a Corewell Health Laboratory or other healthcare facility for serum collection if patient is within 4 days after the onset of rash (with onset of rash considered to be Day 0). If Day 5 of rash or later, immunocompetent patients are no longer considered contagious and may be sent to a laboratory for a serum draw.
  • Corewell Health Providers:
    • Please reach out to Corewell Health Infection Prevention (IP) via Perfect Serve to make them aware of the situation.
    • Corewell Health Infection Prevention will contact the appropriate county.
  • Non-Corewell Health Facilities:
    • The provider’s office must coordinate with the county health department that the patient lives in to obtain permission to send measles testing.
    • Visit the following link for county health department contact information: Slide 1 (michigan.gov)
      • The county will coordinate with MDHHS for testing permission.

The preferred testing specimen is a throat or nasopharyngeal swab collected in office. Corewell Health Laboratories do not collect swabs.​

For further collection and ordering instructions, please visit: Measles PCR – Laboratory Test Catalog | West

Any additional questions or concerns, please use the contact us link above or reach out to your local health department.

April 11, 2024 by
Chemistry, Referral/Sendouts

Hepatitis A IgG Antibody Discontinued

Effective Thursday, April 18, 2024, Corewell Health Laboratory will discontinue the send out test Hepatitis A IgG Antibody, Serum (Mayo Test ID: HAIGG). This test has been made obsolete by Mayo Clinic Laboratories. We recommend to our healthcare providers the following in-house testing:

1.Hepatitis A Total Antibody (LAB1230596): intended for the clinical laboratory diagnosis of acute or past hepatitis A virus infection in persons with signs or symptoms of hepatitis and in persons at increased risk for hepatitis A infection, to identify HAV susceptible individuals and to determine the presence of an antibody response to HAV in vaccine recipients.

2.Hepatitis A Antibody, IgM (LAB7980): intended for use as an aid in the laboratory diagnosis of an acute or recently acquired hepatitis A virus infection.

Continue Reading

April 1, 2024 by
Compliance & Safety, Referral/Sendouts, Test Utilization

Reminder: Send Out Referral Testing Notice

As a reminder, referral testing, tests that are sent to another laboratory to perform, is dependent on the weather. Inclement weather can affect both the turnaround time of testing, and the testing capabilities of the organization. Our referral testing is dependent on outside transportation facilities (such as FedEx and UPS). When those organizations face challenges in weather, our testing capabilities must remain flexible. 

If there is inclement weather in and around Memphis, TN (the main FedEx hub), there may be delays and cancellations of testing. We will try our best to communicate these changes as soon as possible via our blog: https://lab.corewellhealth.org/

For any questions or concerns please “Contact Us” via the link above. 

January 19, 2024 by
Referral/Sendouts, Test Utilization

Test Update: COVID-19 Total Antibody Discontinued

Effective August 30, 2023, the COVID-19 Total Antibody test, which includes the qualitative detection of spike and nucleocapsid antibodies against COVID-19, will be discontinued as an orderable test at Corewell Health West Laboratories. Symptomatic patients suspected to have acute COVID-19 infection should be tested using a molecular assay.

To aid in the clinical diagnosis of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or adults (MIS-C or MIS-A), the COVID-19 IgG, Qualitative by CIA will be available as a send out test. This test is a qualitative detection of IgG antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein of COVID-19 that develop in response to natural infection with COVID-19. This test is performed on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, and reported within 1-5 days. Continue Reading

August 28, 2023 by
Blood Bank, Compliance & Safety, General Information, Hemostasis/Coagulation, Referral/Sendouts, Test Utilization

Coagulation Blue Top Tube Shortage

Update 9/1/2021:

September 1, 2021

There continues to be a global shortage of sodium citrate (“blue top”) blood collection tubes used for coagulation testing as a result of unprecedented demand, in part due to COVID-19 surges, vaccine and treatment development. This was anticipated to last through August 2021, but now, due to continued unprecedented demands, there is no end date in sight. Please take this into consideration when ordering coagulation testing (i.e. Protime, aPTT, Fibrinogen, D-dimer, Lupus Screens, Factor Assays, Mixing Studies, von Willebrand testing, etc.). Continue Reading

June 10, 2021 by
Chemistry, Compliance & Safety, General Information, Hematology, Hemostasis/Coagulation, Microbiology, Referral/Sendouts

CSF Priorities on QNS Specimens

When a Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimen arrives into the laboratory and is deemed Quantity Not Sufficient (QNS) for ordered testing, the ordering provider is contacted to identify testing priorities. Occasionally, the laboratory is unable to secure these priorities.

If the lab is unable to secure priorities from the ordering provider within an hour of collection, the following will occur:

1. We will move forward with the Cell count with differential, Culture, and Protein/Glucose

2. The rest of the ordered testing will hold until we can clarify the priorities

Laboratory is partnering with Epic Beaker to discover if a prioritization of orders, upon CSF order entry, is possible.

If you have questions or concerns, please use the “Contact Us” link above.

June 9, 2021 by