The Community Health And Social Services (CHASS) Center, located in Detroit, provides comprehensive, accessible and affordable quality primary healthcare and support services to more than 12,000 uninsured and underinsured patients each year.

Recently, the federally-qualified health center (FQHC) partnered with Medline to bring respiratory laboratory testing – Influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19—in house. Medline, the health center’s prime vendor for medical supplies, also recommended a high-speed analyzer to expedite hemoglobin A1C testing, cutting the time to obtain results from six to three minutes.

Community Health And Social Services Center CEO Felix M. Valbuena, Jr., MD, said the health center previously relied on off-site analysis for respiratory testing, “which meant our staff had to collect samples, send them in, await results, and then work to inform patients. During the time it took to execute this process, we were unable to inform patients of what changes they needed to make to improve their health, and in some cases, this impacted a patient’s ability to manage their dosages or receive updated prescriptions.”

“Medline’s help has enabled us to not only test for chronic diseases and COVID, but also influenza A and B as well as RSV,” Dr. Valbuena continued. “This helps us to make decisions right there with the whole care team before the patient leaves, so we can explain any changes or new programs and services they can benefit from within the center. We keep a close eye on our operations to ensure we have what we need to meet our community’s needs while overcoming challenges like COVID that rapidly changed how we operate.”

Medline assists healthcare organizations, including community health centers, with lab knowledge, including CLIA waived, moderately complex, and highly complex lab products to help healthcare providers make decisions that improve patient care.

“We recognize that managing a community health center is more challenging than ever as clinicians are called upon to manage many non-clinical administrative tasks as well as uncertainty around reimbursements and grants,” said Greg Smith, Medline community health center national accounts director. “As a hands-on medical supplies partner, we have a passion for providing affordable and accessible care to communities. As a manufacturer, distributor, and solutions provider across the continuum of care, we regularly leverage our expertise to help all of our healthcare partners thrive.”

Learn more about Medine laboratory products and solutions.