Accumen Launches Comprehensive COVID-19 Lab Resource Center
Accumen’s COVID-19 Resource Center provides access to its new testing capacity network, supplies of nasopharyngeal swabs, and face shields, as well as rapid response performance tools for hospital lab and imaging departments
PHOENIX, AZ – MAY 13, 2020 — Accumen Inc. is helping health care get better, faster. Today (May 13) the company announced the launch of its COVID-19 Resource Center, which provides practical tools for hospital laboratories, supply chain, blood management, and imaging departments supporting patient care during this pandemic.
“Accumen continues to lead and is moving with urgency to support our heroic front-line healthcare partners as well as supporting local, state and Federal agencies with their plans to reopen America,” said BG Porter, CEO at Accumen.
Building New Partnerships to Replenish Resources and Identify Testing Capacity
Accumen has partnered with three US-based manufacturers to provide testing supplies and critical protective equipment for hospitals and health systems nationally.
- Accumen has partnered with EnvisionTEC, Inc. to provide hospitals with 3D-printed, flexible nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 lab testing. The swabs have already successfully completed testing in an institutional review board-approved clinical trial.
- Accumen has partnered with Technique Inc., a custom metal manufacturer, to produce two types of face shields that are now available in high volumes for hospital and health system staff requiring personal protective equipment.
- Through its subsidiary Halfpenny Technologies, Inc., Accumen is working with The Rockefeller Foundation to build a COVID-19 Regional Test Capacity Network, which will provide Accumen’s footprint of more than 870 hospitals with access to real-time information on testing locations with capacity. In addition to routing test orders in the correct format to the nearest lab with capacity, The Network will also direct the results to the ordering physicians’ EHR system, health plans, contact tracing solutions, state health departments, CDC, and other agencies as required, quickly, and efficiently.
In addition, Accumen assisted the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in scaling up and deploying their COVID-19 lab-developed test (LDT) after it received an FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). UTHSC is now able to offer COVID-19 testing to its surrounding community with no restrictions.
Developing COVID-19 Rapid Response Tools
Accumen’s Patient Blood Management team has created a resource for health systems struggling with, or preparing for, blood shortages during this unprecedented time. Its Critical Blood Shortage Toolkit offers access to three education modules, specialty-specific communication tools, multiple awareness resources, and virtual strategic planning time with Accumen clinical experts focused on individual hospital challenges and needs.
Accumen has also developed practical, complimentary tools that can help ancillary services staff to tackle new COVID-19-related work challenges efficiently. They include a summary of all the approved in vitro COVID-19 diagnostic EUAs, a spreadsheet that enables technical comparisons to be made between the available tests, a lab preparedness checklist, and recommended patient blood management strategies to employ during the pandemic.
Accumen thought leaders are also playing an active role in correcting erroneous information online, such as refuting the use of red blood cell transfusion as a treatment for COVID-19. Their response is included in the Resource Center.
As health care organizations start to enter the COVID-19 recovery phase, imaging departments will need to prepare for the influx of patients returning for elective exams and procedures as well. Accumen has developed an imaging recovery checklist, patient communications guide, and critical resources guide to help imaging departments get proactive plans in place.
Keeping Up to Date as Issues Evolve
Accumen’s Resource Center includes a Virtual Learning Hub which offers access to upcoming and archived webinars, addressing rapidly evolving COVID-19-related issues of relevance to laboratory and imaging staff. Interested parties can register for its May 14 discussion on Utilizing Regional Testing Capacity to Fight COVID-19 with Mark McClellan, former CMS Administrator and FDA Commissioner, John Mattison, Assistant Medical Director for Kaiser Permanente, Gary Huff, former Lab Corp Diagnostics CEO, and Tim Ryan, CIO of Aegis Sciences Corporation at 4 p.m. ET using https://bit.ly/3fGIaOw.
Resource Center visitors can also access pertinent news and links to relevant healthcare authority websites. In addition, the Resource Center features non-profit organizations that are seeking donations to support COVID-19-related initiatives.
Locating the Resources
All of Accumen’s rapid response tools can be downloaded from https://accumen.com/covid-19/#accumenresponsetools. The Resource Center also offers assistance to hospital labs and imaging departments that want to improve their performance during these challenging times via a virtual performance assessment.