Mako Medical Laboratories Expands to Rural Areas to Focus on Seniors

CHARLOTTE, N.C., February 11, 2020 (Newswire.com) - ​​​​The number of seniors that are 65+ has continued to grow and is expected to reach 20% of the national population by 2029. 

Medicare recently announced drastic cuts through a program called PAMA. These cuts are targeted at laboratory services. The cuts over 5 years are expected to reach 50% of the current amount paid by Medicare to cover the cost of laboratory services for seniors. 

With these recent cuts, many service providers around the country are starting to limit service to rural areas and to patients living in skilled/nursing facilities. These patients typically require more time and more care extra so additional resources are needed to properly care for these patients. Logistics becomes a challenge when driving in rural areas and mobile services become very important with those that have limited transportation. 

Mako Medical has launched a new program to make sure no senior is left behind. This new program expands its logistics and mobile phlebotomy teams to fill the void created by PAMA cuts. Nolan McBride, Mako Medical Laboratories Senior Care Executive, stated, “Mako Medical Is investing millions of dollars to ramp up our infrastructure in order to tackle this rising problem. We have expanded our logistics network throughout the Southeast,  have expanded our mobile teams, and have started building new tech that can be deployed at skilled nursing and long-term care facilities so that the coordination of care is more seamless.”

Steve Hoover, Mako Medical Laboratories Vice President of Laboratory Operations, said “Many of the senior care patients have critical results that require immediate turnaround times. Our team has arranged the laboratory so that we can process these STAT labs and specimens faster.” Hoover continued to explain how complex senior care services like labs are. “Coordinating mobile phlebotomy, the correct handling of lab samples at the site of service, the logistics needed to get them back to the lab, and administrative team needed to handle questions from these facilities requires tremendous coordination. Our team has been ramping up these operations to meet the growing demand in some of the most rural and high demand areas.”  

Through this new program “No Senior Left Behind,” Mako Medical has allocated resources, leadership, assets, teams, and technology to quickly address this growing need in senior care and fill a void that continues to grow. This is a dedicated effort to service this growing population and to make sure they have access to the services they need and require. Without dedicated programs, this growing population is at risk in the future. This new program from Mako Medical is targeted at fixing this. 
 

Mako Medical is known for its extensive community service, hiring veterans, and for supporting nonprofits. Mako Medical has built unique technology to tackle challenges in Pharmacy, Laboratory testing, and Senior Care.

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Source: Mako Medical Laboratories