News Releases

March 10, 2003
WGHS Board of Trustees approves $1.7 million laboratory project

The West Georgia Health System Board of Trustees today approved a $1.7 million project, which will replace current laboratory instruments and completely automate the WGHS laboratory services department by late summer 2003. Once the system is operational, West Georgia Health System will be among the first of medium-sized facilities in the United States to utilize a fully automated laboratory system.

The two-phase project involves an innovative partnership with four major laboratory vendors - LAB-InterLink, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Allegiance and Beckman Coulter. The first phase of the project will involve replacing current instrumentation, including two biochemical analyzers, two immunoassay instruments and two hematology analyzers with a slide maker. The second phase will completely automate the testing system, which will utilize a new, automated dual-track LAB-InterLink system, which processes, handles and transports the specimen once it reaches the WGHS laboratory. This new showcase system will implement a hands-free operation from the time the specimen is received in the laboratory to the time the results are reported.

"This automation project grew out of our need to replace our existing equipment and deal with the workforce shortage. Instead of looking at today's needs, we looked three to five years down the road and saw automation as the wave of the future," says Bob Honeycutt, WGHS vice-president. "We have teamed with four outstanding vendors and because we are taking advantage of discounts associated with implementing the start-up system, we are able to save approximately $700,000 from what the costs would be if we waited until 2003 to purchase the same system."

West Georgia Health System chose automation for three reasons, says Joeline Davidson, administrative director of the laboratory. "First and foremost, it will improve patient care by decreasing turnaround times through utilizing state-of-the art equipment to increase effectiveness and efficiency of our current laboratory processes," says Mrs. Davidson. "Second, it will consolidate work stations, further increasing efficiency. Third and equally important, it will help us address the decreasing availability of professional clinical laboratory scientists to work in our laboratory."

The West Georgia Health System clinical laboratory serves West Georgia Health System's nine divisions, including West Georgia Medical Center, Coleman Community Health Center, Florence Hand Home, Georgia Heart Clinic, Twin Fountains Home, West Georgia Dialysis, West Georgia Home Care and West Georgia Hospice/Hospice LaGrange. In addition the WGHS clinical laboratory serves many local physician offices and conducts drug testing for more than 200 companies.