Counterpoint: Allina’s new lab partnership won’t impede urgent testing or care

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This article was submitted on behalf of several medical providers who are members of an advisory council for Allina Health. Their names are listed below:

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This week, the Star Tribune published a commentary that called into question Allina Health’s recently announced agreement with Quest Diagnostics (“Allina’s lab work move is another blow to patients’ well-being,” July 17). Let us be very clear: The claim that patients will not be able to access urgent testing or care is false.

We are the medical providers who make up a Clinical Advisory Council that guided the decision to make an agreement with Quest. We represent a wide range of specialties and partnered with providers across Allina Health in this work. This process included months of significant diligence, research and analysis to ensure this move would be in line with our caring mission. In partnership with our colleagues, our clinical voices will continue to provide guidance as the partnership takes shape.

When the transition is final, we will begin partnering with Quest to provide lab services. We have carefully considered how to continue meeting the immediate needs of our patients and ensure that we, as providers, have the tools we need to provide safe, high-quality care. We will have processes in place to ensure that any time providers need test results quickly, they can get them.

More than 3 million Minnesotans count on Allina Health for their care. We are committed to making sure each of them can continue to access the best care possible. This partnership is one example of how we’re doing this. Quest Diagnostics is a national leader in lab services and will help us stay on the leading edge of lab technology.

At Allina Health, patients always come first. Safe, high-quality and accessible care remain our standard. How we deliver it has and will continue to change over time. What won’t change is our commitment to providing the high-quality, patient-centered care our patients need, when they need it.

Signatories: Jennifer Auge, M.D., primary care; Kevin Best, M.D., primary care; Maggie Borer, RN, ambulatory clinics; Josaleen Muzquiz Davis, M.D., senior care; Elizabeth Fairbairn, M.D., internal medicine; Venkat Iyer, M.D., nephrology; Lynne Gibeau, M.D., obstetrics and gynecology; Melody McKenzie, M.D., primary care; Rammohan Sankaraneni, M.D., neurosciences; Sarah Shefelbine, M.D., ear, nose and throat; Janet Siciliano, FNP, primary care, and William Wagner, M.D., maternal fetal medicine.