Northwell Health and NYC Health + Hospitals celebrated the grand opening of a $47.7 million shared laboratory in Little Neck last week.
The new Clinical Laboratory of New York, located at 59-25 Little Neck Parkway, is currently the largest nonprofit, hospital-operated lab in the nation and will allow the healthcare systems to provide enhanced patient services while reducing their costs.
Northwell Health Labs administers the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver-certified central lab which will primarily perform microbiology tests including molecular diagnostics, from local hospitals, clinics and physician offices. Testing at the lab will incorporate the latest technology and advanced robotic testing systems.
Additionally, the new lab and the Core Lab in Lake Success will process about six million non-urgent tests from NYC Health + Hospitals, allowing public hospital labs to focus on urgent testing.
Each year, Northwell Health Labs performs more than 30 million tests in their Core Lab, hospitals, physicians’ offices, nursing homes and clinical trials and also handles more than 200,000 surgical pathology specimens annually.
“This state-of-the-art facility shows what’s possible when two mission-driven organizations collaborate,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO at Northwell Health. “Northwell Health’s laboratory expertise, along with exciting new technology deployed here, will help turn tests around faster and more efficiently. That’s good for all of the communities served by Northwell and NYC Health + Hospitals.”
The 36,000-square-foot, two-story lab was born out of the Clinical Laboratory of New York (CLNY) Alliance formed by Northwell Health and NYC Health + Hospitals in 2014. The CLNY Alliance had a goal to integrate services through a shared reference lab.
“The partnership between NYC Health + Hospitals and Northwell Health will improve the efficacy and delivery of treatment for patients in Queens and beyond,” said Councilman Barry S. Grodenchik. “In addition to the sharing of resources and standardized levels of service, the $47 million project represents a significant investment in our community, and I am pleased that the lab has opened here in Little Neck, Queens.”
A total of 176 employees began operations at the lab earlier this month, but the number of employees is expected to increase to 210. According to Northwell Health, the joint project is expected to save NYC Health + Hospitals more than $20 million a year.
In addition to the Little Neck lab, Northwell Labs will move its Core Lab operations to a new building in Lake Success. The $59.6 million 101,000 square-foot facility includes 84,000 in clinical space and the largest chemistry and hematology automated line of its kind in the continent.
To accommodate its increased operations over the past year, Northwell has hired about 90 new employees who will join their 1300-person team.
“This is an exciting time as Northwell Health Laboratories takes a step forward with new equipment and facilities to match our already excellent staff,” said Dwayne Breining, MD, executive director of Northwell Labs. “Our partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals, along with the Core Lab expansion, is an investment in the health of all New Yorkers.”
