Diversified Medical Healthcare (DMH), a holding company with four subsidiary health care companies, Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS), CPT Medical, OnGen, and Vessel Medical, has provided leading-edge solutions to combat COVID-19 nationally, addressing supply chain gaps and infrastructure restrictions caused by the virus. Their molecular diagnostics laboratory, PMLS, became the first lab in South Carolina validated as an independent COVID-19 testing lab one year ago. Just as PMLS achieved this validation for testing shortly after the first case was reported in the U.S., they continue to meet demands caused by COVID-19 as they arise with their laboratory staff of over 360 employees and in-house research and development team of Ph.D. scientists. Along with large-scale testing via state-of-the-art automated lab equipment, DMH companies developed advanced software for most efficient data management, distributed customized PPE supply kits, and manufactured COVID-19 testing kits as well as viral transport medium that properly preserves specimens during transit.
“Since COVID-19 became a threat to our nation, we quickly streamlined our workflow, hired employees, validated various coronavirus assays and purchased the equipment needed to test a large volume of specimens with the highest quality standards,” said Kevin Murdock, founder of Diversified Medical Healthcare. “With our laboratory having one of the highest testing capacities in the nation, an in-house medical manufacturing firm, a lab equipment company and data management software company, we feel that it’s imperative to do our part to help keep the country open and our citizens safe.”
Over the past year, Diversified Medical Healthcare companies have:
• Processed over 1 million COVID-19 tests
• Reached one of the highest testing capacities in the nation with the capability to process over 300,000 tests per day
• Developed medical data management software that communicates directly from laboratory equipment for faster delivery of data to health care providers and patients
• Developed Virtual Lab, an innovative solution to laboratory infrastructure limitations which allows other labs to utilize PMLS’ testing capacity, 360 employees including a research and development team of Ph.D. scientists, and top-of-the-line lab equipment
• Developed Lab in a Box, turnkey lab equipment for other labs, hospital systems and large organizations that comes with everything needed for professional laboratory-level diagnostics for COVID-19, Flu A and B, upper respiratory, STD/UTI, cancer risk screening, pharmacogenomics and antibiotic resistance testing
• Shifted production to add in-house manufacturing of COVID-19 testing kits
• Achieved the capacity to produce 60,000 COVID-19 testing kits per day
• Become the official COVID-19 testing lab for the United Soccer League (USL) and Division I/Division II teams in seven collegiate conferences as well as large schools and business organizations across the U.S.
• Become the processing lab for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services surge sites and state health departments in South Carolina, Arizona, Utah and North Carolina
• Become the Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred COVID-19 testing lab in Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina
• Donated hundreds of thousands of masks to local law enforcement, paramedics, fire departments, hospitals and the Shriners organization and has provided free testing to first responders during the pandemic
Now, as vaccines are administered and restrictions on social distancing are being lifted, PMLS is conducting a critical large-scale genomic sequencing for the surveillance of new COVID-19 variants, taking proactive measures so that a future surge of a mutated SARS CoV-2 strain is less likely to occur. The data collected from genomic sequencing can help pharmaceutical companies stay ahead of the variants and make any changes needed to the current vaccines and treatments for higher efficacy and best patient outcomes. With PMLS’ high-throughput genomic sequencers and library prep instruments that automate the library prep and sequencing process, a much higher capacity for genomic sequencing is achieved, and margins of human error are drastically reduced. By sequencing an exponentially higher amount of specimens, PMLS is better equipped to provide meaningful analysis with larger amounts of data and faster turnaround times for the effective surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.
PMLS is in discussions with the CDC and multiple states across the nation to provide COVID sequencing services at ports of entry and local and regional hotspots. Along with this and their previous accomplishments, more groundbreaking COVID-19 solutions by Diversified Medical Healthcare are soon to be announced.
For more information, please visit www.divmedinc.com or call 866-521-7541.
