Changes in Laboratory Testing Coinciding with Medical Center Downtown and Affiliated Clinics Transitioning to Epic, Saturday, May 4, 2024

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024, UI Health Care Medical Center Downtown (MCD) and affiliated former Mercy Iowa City clinics will transition to using Epic as the electronic medical record. The following changes in laboratory testing will occur simultaneously with that transition:

• All laboratory samples collected at the former Mercy Iowa City offsite (outreach) clinics will be directly delivered by courier to the UI Health Care University Campus for processing, testing, and results. Previously, these samples were delivered to the MCD clinical laboratory, with mailout testing predominantly referred to Quest Diagnostics.
• The MCD clinical laboratory will continue to perform laboratory testing for specimens collected onsite within the MCD hospital. The MCD laboratory will also continue to serve non-UI Health Care outreach clients. For tests not available at the MCD laboratory, samples will be delivered to the University Campus for testing.
• Critical and urgent laboratory values throughout the system will now all utilize the same parameters in place at the University Campus. These can be accessed at the online UI Health Care Laboratory Services Handbook; “Critical Laboratory Tests & Values” link). The handbook also contains detailed information on testing details (e.g., collection tubes, turnaround times, assay limitations), key clinical laboratory phone numbers, and laboratory licensure/accreditation.

Questions should be directed to Matthew Krasowski, MD, PhD (384-9380, matthew-krasowski@uiowa.edu), Vice Chair of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Services, UI Health Care.