BioTech Lab faxes or prints your lab test results before the national labs can even get the specimens to their labs in Chicago or other remote cities.  Hospital labs tend to put your tests in the queue after their inpatient tests, and may not have the same reporting capabilities.  For tests picked up in late afternoon, BioTech reports results early the next morning.  Of course cultures and esoteric tests will take longer.

Support BioTech Lab, your local, regional lab, in order to continue to get good prices and good service.  Already your choices are limited to 2 national labs (one with no testing labs in St. Louis metro area or in Southern Illinois), the hospital labs and BioTech.  When the competition is gone, they will dictate prices and service levels.

Who do you call?  Who do you call at the national lab or large metro area hospital when you have a problem?  With BioTech Lab, you know us and know who to call.

Call Melvin Bishop, owner and President, at 314-432-5030 x216 or at 800-737-5030 x216 to get more information on making the change to BioTech.  For Southern Illinois, call Denny Griffith at 618-407-9090 or leave a message for him at 800-737-5030 x314.
 
 

More than 13 million Americans may have an undiagnosed thyroid condition - double the number previously suspected, according to a study in the Feb. 28 Archives of Internal Medicine.  It also found that sub-clinical hypothyroidism may increase cholesterol levels, prompting a recommendation that all adults be tested for thyroid disease.

“The link between hypothyroidism and cardiovascular health and the vague correlation between symptoms and disease state points to the need for widespread ... testing,” said Chester Ridgway, MD, head of endocrinology, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Of 25,862 people, 9.5% had hypothyroidism and 2.2% hyperthyroidsim.
 

From the March 13,2000 American Medical News.
 
 

APTS has recently begun working with BioTech Laboratories and X-Ray so that homebound patients may receive service.  APTS is located in the Fernwood Center, Suite 212 and services physical therapy needs of patients in the greater St. Louis and Metro East area.  Some of their patients are homebound and need phlebotomy services, lab work and xrays.  BioTech is pleased to announce this relationship.

Client bills can be paid by credit card.  Some of BioTech’s clients have been taking advantage of the benefits of paying their bill by credit card and reaping the benefits of accumulating airline miles, or discounts of various types.  Some auto makers give discounts up to 5% of the amounts charged.  Since almost all drive cars and need to travel, this effectively reduces your lab costs.  If you need more information, call Bill Hunt at ext. 210.

Park Ridge, Illinois, March 27, 2000 - The American Medical Technologists Institute for Education (AMTIE) announces that Teresa Joines, Director of Customer Service here at BioTech Lab, is the recipient of the Institute’s Continuing Education Certificate of Excellence for the year 1999.  The Certificate is awarded annually to a distinguished group of healthcare practitioners certified by American Medical Technologists (AMT) who have far exceeded the number of continuing education hours required for compliance with basic AMTIE Standards.  Practitioners earning the Certificate have demonstrated dedication to the heathcare profession, to their employers, and to the patients they serve by devoting significant effort to augmenting knowledge of their disciplines.

BioTech Lab participates in an active Total Quality Management program.  As a part of regulatory compliance, Quality Assurance (QA) Standards that have been implemented, are monitored by the TQM committee through the use of written documentation.  The TQM process allows BTL to identify areas where Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) can be put in place to better serve the laboratory needs of our valued customers.  Recent committee reports focused on Solving Problems using the focus acronym:

F  ind Problem

O  rganize a team to identify

C  ommunicate with Employees’ Customers

U  nderstand why problem happened, evaluate solutions

S  olve problem, implement criteria
 
 

Periodically physicians will order a Protime and PTT on the same date of service for a patient.  When these encounters occur in an outpatient setting, Medicare will deny payment.  There are only a few situations where it is medically necessary for this combination of testing, such as Heparin therapy, transition from heparin to coumadin, GI Bleeding, Coagulation deficiencies or disease.

In many cases, the physician orders both the PT and PTT in a pre-operative situation.  Because pre- and post-surgical lab tests are covered under the DRG for the surgery, this lab work is covered under Medicare part A through the hospital or surgery center performing the procedure.

However, many nursing home residents may desire to have the pre- or post-surgical labs performed by BioTech Lab to avoid having to transport the patient to the hospital.  In these cases, if the patient is covered under Medicare part B, we must be diligent in getting an Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) signed regarding the specific request.