State-of-the-art testing system now online in Blessing Hospital Laboratory

Blessing Hospital has purchased and installed a “BioFire®” testing system in its laboratory. BioFire® allows for in-house testing of twenty-one common viral and bacterial respiratory pathogens in less than an hour. The  BioFire® platform has received FDA approval for COVID-19 testing and Blessing Hospital Laboratory will implement the test immediately upon receipt of the test kits from the company. 

The BioFire® system currently allows physicians to more quickly rule out other infections in a patient with symptoms of respiratory infection. That decision makes a patient eligible for a COVID-19 screening test more quickly, according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.

“BioFire® has a COVID-19 test nearly ready for use,” said Maureen Kahn, RN, MHA, MSN, president/chief executive officer, Blessing Health System.  “Until then, having the BioFire® system in the Blessing Lab is a great advantage for physicians who need to determine if their patients meet federal guidelines for COVID-19 testing.  The system shortens that decision-making process by days.”