To meet patient needs, blood banks leverage their facility’s reference laboratory for immunohematology and genomics testing.
However, if you have patients with complex serologic workups that require extensive and specialized testing, you may find yourself reevaluating your current provider’s capabilities. Such tests require trained and competent staff, expensive reagents, and appropriate equipment — especially when dealing with tests that are performed more infrequently than others.
If your current immunohematology reference laboratory (IRL) doesn’t have the infrastructure for your complex assays, it may be time to consider a new partner.
The Dilemma: Your IRL Can’t Meet Your Complex Testing Needs
Smaller IRLs encounter a variety of hurdles, including:
- Staffing: There is currently a severe shortage of medical laboratory professionals, so many labs don’t have qualified staff to run complex assays.
- Expertise: To provide a wide range of complex assays, a laboratory must employ experts in the field to set up and validate tests and then to provide useful interpretations of results, along with consultation in the most difficult cases.
- Equipment: Reference labs need to have the right equipment to meet your testing needs. This equipment can be costly to purchase and maintain. If your reference lab doesn’t run a large volume of tests, then it is not cost-effective to buy this equipment. Your current provider might not have all of the equipment needed for complex blood bank testing, especially blood group genomic testing.
- Reagents: Laboratories need the right reagents to run specialized assays. These reagents are expensive and have a limited shelf-life. If your current reference lab doesn’t run a specific assay very often, reagents might expire before they can use them.
These are just a few of the significant issues your current immunohematology reference lab may be facing. So, if your facility requires complex testing, that is where a more advanced partner can help.
The Answer: Find a More Specialized Partner
Your facility needs immunohematology and genomic testing services, but your current reference laboratory is unable to provide the level of expertise and experience required. What should you do? Partner with a world renowned immunohematology reference laboratory, such as New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe).
Some of the benefits of partnering with NYBCe include:
- Save Money: You can save money if you work with just one provider to facilitate all your complex testing needs — rather than working with multiple reference laboratories.
- Save Time: You can get your results quickly — even if you’re out of state.
- More Expertise: In complex cases, consultation may be helpful. By choosing NYBCe, we can help you identify appropriate testing, interpret complex results, and provide the most appropriate transfusion recommendations for your patients.
Count on New York Blood Center Enterprises
If you want to save resources, improve the accuracy of your laboratory testing, resolve more complex cases, and have access to industry-leading expertise, consider working with NYBCe. Contact us today to learn more.