Title
Laboratory Services Agreement - Nordstrom
Body
Laboratory services for all community health center sites are currently provided through a contractual relationship with Quest as a reference laboratory. The contract is in its last year of a five year contract, which expires September 1, 2015. In September 2014, the Board of Health approved the addition of phlebotomists employed by Quest to be integrated into the Community Health Center sites. We have been planning with Quest account representatives for the implementation of these Quest phlebotomist hours over the last several months. This staff will supplement existing Health Department lab staff and Certified Medical Assistants who are now performing phlebotomy duties.
In April, Quest indicated that they will require a separate Technical Services Agreement (TSA) for each health center site where Quest phlebotomist personnel will be placed. The TSA has a one year agreement period, which extends beyond the existing Quest contract end date. We request authorization from the Board of Health to extend the current agreement to May 31, 2016, to coincide with the term of the pending Quest Technical Services Agreements. The terms of the TSA allow for early termination with proper notice. The LCHD/CHC Materials Management program will proceed to issue a new RFP for reference laboratory services in late 2015, to allow for the selection and contracting of reference laboratory services.
This extension will allow for time to evaluate the integration of Quest phlebotomists into health center clinical operations. The extension of the contract period is preferred to the option of issuing a RFP for laboratory services at this time. Should a new laboratory service vendor be selected in 2015, the implementation would coincide with both the transition of the health care system to ICD-10 coding as well as Nextgen upgrades scheduled for Fall 2015. Furthermore, should a different laboratory be selected, a new interface between the Lab and Nextgen would need to be established and tested. These projects all require the involvement of the same Information Technology and Nextgen EHR staffing resources.
Suggested Motion
To authorized the extension of the agreement with Quest, Inc. for laboratory services to May 31, 2016, consistent with Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center Purchasing Policies and Procedures section 7-102(1), to allow for implementation and evaluation of Quest phlebotomy staff into the health centers and to avoid possible disruption of operations due to other significant initiatives coinciding with the end of the current agreement term.