Yavapai County residents who need specialized and rare blood tests can receive them close to home thanks to a relationship Yavapai Regional Medical Center (YRMC) has established with Mayo Medical Labs.
“Mayo approached YRMC about serving as our exclusive ‘reference lab,’” said Stephanie Fricke, MT, ASCP, Director, YRMC Laboratory Services. “We agreed to work with them because they share a dedication to high quality lab services.”
Large hospitals and community hospitals work with reference labs in order to efficiently serve people who need what pathologists call “esoteric” lab tests. For example, if a physician requests a blood test to help diagnose a rare thyroid disorder, the reference lab is tapped to conduct the test.
“A reference lab like Mayo Medical Labs is designed to conduct large volumes of these kinds of specialized tests,” Fricke said.
Residents who need these tests have their blood taken at one of YRMC’s three community-based draw stations or at YRMC East in Prescott Valley or YRMC West in Prescott. The blood is transported the same day to Mayo Medical Labs in Rochester, Minn. By 7 am the following day, the Mayo lab team is processing the specimen and beginning the exam. In 24 to 48-hours, the patient’s physician receives the test results.
“The results are delivered to the physician using YRMC’s electronic medical record system,” Fricke said. “It’s high-tech medicine.”
And high-touch medicine too, as YRMC physicians can reach out to the Mayo Medical Labs team if they have questions about test results. In fact, Fricke noted the Mayo and YRMC lab teams both share a patient-centered philosophy.
“The YRMC Lab team understands the people behind the tests are family members, neighbors and friends,” Fricke said. “This drives us to produce high-quality results and provide excellent customer service.”
Blood tests provide physicians approximately 75 percent of the information they need to make a diagnosis for a patient. With this need for information, YRMC’s Laboratory Services team is extremely busy. The team processes approximately 257,000 inpatient studies and 413,000 outpatient studies each year.
Area residents have multiple options for testing available with these three community draw stations as well as laboratories at YRMC East and YRMC West:
Community-Based Draw Stations
YRMC Outpatient Services Building
7700 East Florentine Road, Building B, Suite 201
Prescott Valley, Arizona 86314
(928) 759-5800
YRMC PhysicianCare Internal Medicine
3120 Clearwater Drive
Prescott, Arizona 86305
(928) 445-0690
YRMC Patient Service Center
1050 Gail Gardner Way, Suite 200
Prescott, Arizona 86305
(928) 717-5234
Hospital-Based Laboratories
YRMC East Laboratory Services
7700 East Florentine Road
Prescott Valley, Arizona 86314
(928) 442-8770
YRMC West Laboratory Services
1003 Willow Creek Road
Prescott, Arizona 86301
(928) 771-5770
To learn more about YRMC Laboratory Services, visit us online or ask your healthcare provider.
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