County will stop blood test service/ Decision could hurt uninsured

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jul 29, 2003 | by CARY LEIDER VOGRIN

Prescriptions for routine blood work no longer will be filled at the El Paso County Department of Health and Environment.

Citing high costs and saying the blood draws aren't a function of county government, the department is ending its outpatient lab services Friday.

Health workers average about 70 such draws a month, charging a $5 fee for the service. The blood then is shipped to a lab, and the patient must pay costs for the testing.

For many people it was cheaper than going directly to blood labs, but it was costing the Health Department time and money, said Rosemary Bakes-Martin, department director.

The department must free up staff to concentrate on testing more applicable to public health, such as West Nile, Bakes-Martin said.

The blood work program, she said, started more than five years ago and was intended for people who had no insurance and did not qualify for public assistance.

"In looking into it, it became apparent that the individuals who were taking advantage of the service did not meet that criteria at all," she said.

Many clients, she said, had insurance with high deductibles that required them to pay for lab testing. The Health Department's services were cheaper than paying the deductible, Bakes-Martin said.

"The first question we had to ask is, why we were even doing this? " she said.

"As a government agency, we should only be doing lab tests for those individuals that come here and qualify for our services."

Beverly Hammond goes there because she has no health insurance.

Last week, she had her blood drawn at the health department as part of a checkup. The entire comprehensive blood workup - cholesterol, liver function and a host of other tests - cost her just $78, she said.

She said it's "a shame" the service is going to be stopped. "When you can't pay for it, you're not going to get it done. That's what it boils down to," she said.