PHYSICIAN FAQ'S Frequently Asked Questions

A. MedArbor is Full-service Diagnostic Laboratory offering Molecular, Toxicology, Blood Wellness and Physician Owned Laboratory Solutions

A. MedArbor is both COLA (The Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation) and CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) Accredited. COLA is a laboratory accreditation program that is widely recognized as the ‘gold standard’ and has served as a model for various federal, state, and private laboratory accreditation programs throughout the world. CLIA has establish quality standards for all laboratory testing to ensure the accuracy, reliability, and timeliness of patient test results regardless of where the test was performed.

A1. You can expect MedArbor to provide comprehensive, accurate and meaningful test results at the most competitive turn-around times every time you order a test

A2. Our billing and collection policies are patient and practice centric. We don’t zero balance bill and we work with patients to put their billing concerns to rest

A. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a laboratory technique used for copying and replicating a piece of DNA unique to a targeted pathogen using select reagents.

With each step of the reaction, the number of DNA molecules increases exponentially and in just a few hours of running the reaction, hundreds of thousands to millions of copies of the target DNA can be made and easily detected. PCR has therefore become an important tool in the rapid diagnosis of infectious disease

A. When heated, the strands of the Double Helix separate. Lower temperatures cause them to rejoin with the nucleotides and regain the double helical structure. This is known as an amplification cycle. The sequences of DNA molecules associated with the unique target pathogen are detected by PCR during several amplification cycles.

• A.Diagnose early and treat appropriately diseases marked by fastidious pathogens

• A. Determine antimicrobial treatment that considers detected antibiotic resistance markers

• A. Detect and treat slower growing gram+ organisms.

• Detect and treat polymicrobial infections

• A. Detect and treat mixed infections

• A. Detect and treat mixed infections

A. Diagnostic tests such as PCR are used in conjunction with patient symptoms, history, and other information that the provider deems appropriate to properly diagnose and treat the patient.

A. Comprehensive PCR molecular technology is more sensitive than culture and can reliably detect multiple and slower growing organisms in the specimen – things culture simply can’t provide. Therefore it is not uncommon for culture results to differ from PCR’s more comprehensive and accurate results.

A. MedArbor’s PCR technology offers better than 95% sensitivity and specificity

A. Recurrent or chronic UTIs are often the result of multiple organism. Current data supports that 30% of UTI’s are polymicrobial in nature. Urine culture is biased towards a single infectious organism based on CFU (colony-forming unit) count, possibly leading to inappropriate therapy. Some fastidious organisms are difficult or simply do not grow in standard culture which may lead to incorrect treatment or non-treatment. The advantage of PCR is the ability to test for and detect multiple organisms simultaneously, including those that may not grow readily in culture. MedArbor’s PCR technology also provides clinicians with Multidrug Resistant treatment guidance based on the detection of Antibiotic Resistance Markers.

A. Differentiating between a bacterial infections and the flu is critical because complications associated with Influenza can be deadly in “high risk” patients. A2. The CDC notes that rapid influenza testing has a sensitivity ranging from approximately 50% to 70% meaning that up to half of influenza cases relying on repaid flu swab test results will produce false negatives. A3. Bacterial and Viral infections often present with similar symptoms. Effective treatment hinges on knowing whether the patient’s infection is viral, bacterial or fungal A4. The need to quickly identify the causative agent of the infection bacteria vs. virus differentiates Upper Respiratory Infections from chronic wound’s and UTI’s A5. The closer to symptom on-set that an antiviral is introduced the greater chance it has of being effective.

A. Clinicians must be cautious to avoid over interpreting the significance of microbiology wound cultures in their clinical evaluation of non-healing wounds. Elongated culture resulting allows for the bacterial burden of the wound to change substantially by the time culture results are provided making diagnosis and treatment a moving target. Molecular biology has proven that culture methodologies can be markedly less sensitive to bacterial detection than DNA detection methodologies like Polymerase Chain Reaction.

• A1.PCR is undeniably faster, more sensitive and more accurate than Culture.

• A2. PCR doesn’t compromise on the amount of meaningful data it provides for speed. Conversely, Our UTI and Wound Tests detect Fungi, Gram -/+ bacteria, resistance genes and provide CDC and FDA supported Treatment Guidance all in 12 - 24 hours

• A3. MedArbor’s RPP Panel provides physicians with detection of a combination of 36 viral, bacterial and fungal targets including 4 resistance genes

• PCR quickly identifies mixed, mono, polymicrobial infections AND gene resistance markers

• A4. PCR results are not dependent on a lab tech’s abilities, nor the time it takes to grow bacteria in a culture dish resulting in more comprehensive and accurate sets of data with faster turn-around times.

• A5. PCR’s ability to detect resistance markers better supports antibiotic stewardship reducing treatment failures and adverse events due to improper Rx

• A6. PCR will never generate “no growth” results

• A7. PCR greatly reduces the chances of receiving “contaminated” test results