NMMC Selects Mayo Medical Laboratories for Advanced Laboratory Testing Needs

By Gina Chiri-Osmond • July 10, 2018

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North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) has selected Mayo Medical Laboratories as its primary reference laboratory.

The agreement provides NMMC physicians and staff with access to Mayo Clinic’s extensive menu of more than 3,000 laboratory tests in every subspecialty of medicine. NMMC laboratory staff and pathologists will be able to speak directly with Mayo physicians and scientists to review patient test orders and to discuss and interpret results together.

Mayo Medical Laboratories (MML) is the global reference laboratory of Mayo Clinic. Through its worldwide network of more than 4,000 clients, MML enables hospitals, medical centers, specialty clinics, and health care organizations around the world to send their clinical tests to the laboratories at Mayo Clinic, where some of the most complex testing is performed.

“Much like NMMC, Mayo Clinic is a fully integrated hospital, research facility, and educational institution,” says Sherry Okun, M.D., Medical Director of NMMC’s Pathology Department. “This integrated and collaborative approach strengthens our own efforts as we are working with clinicians to find answers—not just test results—and determine next steps in the care of our patients.”

Specimens obtained at NMMC will be transported via express-air to Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota, with results often available the following day through a computer interface that enters the information directly into each patient’s electronic health record.

Additionally, Mayo Medical Laboratories will work closely with NMMC to enhance the medical center’s own test menu through a suite of consultation and support services, building the capacity and skills of all the clinicians involved.

“We are working with leading health care systems to provide the right test at the right time for each patient,” says William Morice, II, M.D., Ph.D., President of Mayo Medical Laboratories and Chair of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic. “Working with NMMC’s laboratory staff and clinicians, we will collaborate on optimizing test orders, launching new tests at NMMC, and applying new analytics technologies. Together, we will provide the highest quality laboratory tests at an affordable price for the patients who need these tests.”

“Our highly skilled medical laboratory scientists perform more than 1.5 million laboratory tests annually, and this new relationship will further enhance their expertise and benefits to our patients,” says Toni F. Presley, administrative director of NMMC’s Pathology Department. “Most laboratory testing will continue to be performed by NMMC with only the most specialized tests being sent to Mayo Clinic.”

To learn more about NMMC’s Pathology Department, visit https://www.nmhs.net/medical-services/lab/.

Gina Chiri-Osmond

Gina Chiri-Osmond is a Marketing Channel Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories.