April 17, 2020:The Food and Drug Administration has granted a South Florida hospital emergency permission to perform COVID-19 swab tests within its own in-house laboratory. Baptist Health South Florida is the first organization in Florida – and one of 12 in the country – to receive the emergency authorization.
Officials with Baptist say the Hospital of Miami Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory will be able to perform 40 to 80 in-house tests every day – with results being received within 24 hours.
“Having this test allows us to expand our in-house testing capability, allowing us to make treatment decisions more quickly and quarantine patients appropriately,” said Edwin Gould, M.D., chief of pathology, Miami Cancer Institute. “We were fortunate to have all the highly sophisticated equipment and expertise needed already in-house– making the switch possible in a short timeframe.”
The in-house testing allows the hospital to slowly wean itself off relying on private labs for test results, which can take days. Other hospital laboratories who have received the emergency authorization include Stanford Health Care, Northwestern Medicine, Yale New Haven Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/fda-approves-baptist-health-in-house-coronavirus-testing/2221239/
