Greenville-based Premier Medical Laboratory Services announced that it is South Carolina’s first commercial laboratory validated for COVID-19 testing. The laboratory is increasing its daily testing capacity of 1,000 per day with a goal of processing 28,000 tests per week.
Once COVID-19 tests are taken at a hospital or physician’s office and then submitted to Premier Medical Laboratory Services, the tests will be sent to the company’s lab and processed within 24-48 hours. While lead times may extend due to volume, Premier’s use of the cloud-based laboratory information system OnGen will allow for orders to be entered and communicated directly to laboratory instruments.
“We are proud of our team for working diligently around the clock so that we could attain validation status and increase access to testing, which is urgent at this time,” Premier Medical Laboratory Services founder Kevin Murdock said. “Our lab is at the forefront of the most advanced technology and science available, providing cutting-edge diagnostics to help flatten the curve of this global pandemic.”
Premier Medical Laboratory’s COVID-19 test is part of its comprehensive respiratory pathogen panel test to help determine the full causation of a patient’s systems since COVID-19 can exist as a co-infection. Results from this test may help rule out or detect multiple causative pathogens, which will allow physicians to provide suitable care for their patients.
