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Waikato DHB extends Pathlab agreement by two years
Waikato DHB extends Pathlab agreement by two years
Waikato District Health Board has extended its contract with Pathology Associates (Pathlab) until 30 June 2015 to aid in staff recruitment and retention for the community laboratory provider and to minimise cost risks for the DHB.
The two-year extension to the deal, worth $15 million annually, was signed yesterday (Thursday 14 July) by Waikato DHB chief executive Craig Climo and Pathlab director Dr Stephen May.
Pathlab Waikato provides all community referred tests in the Waikato except in Tokoroa, Taumarunui and Te Kuiti where Waikato DHB's provider arm, Health Waikato, provides the service.
Since Pathlab started on 14 January 2008, Waikato DHB has seen savings of around $5 million a year compared to what it paid for the service before then.
"The arrangement that we have now has greatly reduced both the base price that we pay for laboratory services and the rate of cost growth," said Mr Climo.
Dr May said the agreement gave Pathlab certainty and assisted retention and recruitment of key laboratory pathologists, scientists and technicians in Hamilton.
Pathlab does more than 41,000 lab tests each week and the turn around times to GPs, specialists, lead maternity carers and nurse practitioners, a key performance indicator under the agreement, exceeds targets set by the DHB.
The extension of the agreement was determined on quality, cost, performance and a high trust relationship between Pathlab and the DHB.
Pathlab employs 250 people in the Waikato including doctors, scientists, phlebotomy staff, couriers, information technology professionals and administrators. It has an up to the minute highly automated laboratory, the most automated in Australasia, which processes more than 3500 patient samples a day.
"The relationship with Waikato DHB is very good with regular meetings for review and feedback. Economies of scale have been achieved by processing community samples from Bay of Plenty and Waikato," said Dr May.
Pathlab is the only pathologist-owned private laboratory in New Zealand. It has agreements for hospital and community laboratories in Rotorua / Lakes (hospital and community), Tauranga (hospital and community) and Whakatane (hospital and community.
The main laboratory automation-testing site for Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Lakes DHBs is in Hamilton with all pathologists and scientists on site.
There are specimen collection sites with 2.5km of almost all general practices, effective relationships with Waikato Hospital laboratory for urgent after-hours work and pathologist advice readily available for all referring practitioners.
Waikato DHB first went to the market in September 2006 seeking proposals to deliver Waikato community laboratory services for five years. All proposals were evaluated against publicly notified criteria, and by a team of experts which included independent GPs and pathologist members.
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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