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The Pathology Center at Methodist Hospital Breaks Ground on Free-Standing Laboratory

$22 Million Facility to Allow Expansion of Surgical Services at 84th Street Campus

Workers have broken ground for construction of a $22 million, free-standing structure to house The Pathology Center at Methodist Hospital. The two-story, 42,000-square-foot facility will be built adjacent to the south side of the new Methodist Hospital visitors’ parking structure at 8303 Dodge Street.

Six years in the making, the new building will ease space constraints while paving the way for new learning opportunities and implementation of advanced research, analysis and laboratory technology.  When completed, the new laboratory will be a center for excellence for pathology, improving the speed, quality and accuracy of medical test results for patients in a three-state area.

The Pathology Center, much of which has occupied the same space since Methodist Hospital opened at its current location 40 years ago, processes more than 3,800 medical tests every day.  Each year, more than 1.4 million samples of blood, tissue and other body fluids are delivered for examination via an internal tube system and a network of couriers and transport systems from hospitals and clinics across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.

"The new Pathology Center will give us the space to put quality systems and people in place to provide outstanding laboratory medicine to the patients we serve,” said Thomas L. Williams, M.D., medical director, The Pathology Center at Methodist Hospital. “It will enable us to deliver expanded services with greater efficiency, helping us do an even better job of identifying disease, shaping treatments, reducing unneeded hospitalizations and saving lives.”

Some of the key benefits of the new facility will include:

• Wider selection of test procedures and greater volume of tests performed.
• Modern, larger space with improved workflow for expanded use of automation.
• Easy access, single-point entry for specimens coming from outside Methodist Hospital.
• Faster, more efficient tube system for specimens obtained within Methodist Hospital, combined with ready operating room access for surgical consultations.
• Increase in space for molecular diagnostic testing from 500 square feet to 2,800 square feet;
• Additional space for Medical Technology program to accommodate an eventual 25 percent increase in enrollment and help address the local and nationwide shortage of medical technologists;
• New lecture lab and teaching facilities to offer hands-on practiced with actual specimens.
• An interior designed to foster collaboration and facilitate future expansion or reconfiguration of programs as needed.

Already one of Omaha’s most technologically advanced laboratories, The Pathology Center will gain the additional space needed to install equipment that will further enhance the accuracy, quality and speed of many testing procedures.

"About a year ago we implemented a robotic diagnostics system that automates laboratory testing procedures while significantly reducing the potential for error because robotics – not humans -- automatically move bar-coded specimens along the testing track,” said Dave Huelsmann, service executive, The Pathology Center.  “The new facility will provide us the opportunity to implement additional complementary technologies, such as auto-verification which can trigger automatic retesting by signaling a technologist for further intervention with the specimen.”

The Pathology Center employs more than 160 dedicated and skilled staff members.

Construction of a stand-alone facility for The Pathology Center will provide space for a major expansion of Methodist Hospital’s surgical services area.  Methodist is one of the area’s leading providers of surgical services.