Outpatient Laboratory Services

Located in the front lobby of the hospital, our Outpatient Laboratory is just to the right of the admitting office.  The office is open Monday through Friday from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm with after hours services registered in the Emergency Department.  For our patients’ safety, a written order from the physician must be received by the hospital before services are rendered.  For more information, our Outpatient Lab may be reached at (706) 481-7474 or by fax at (706) 481-7809.

An order must include the following information:

• Patient’s name
• Date order is written
• Diagnosis Code(s)
• Description of the test or CPT code
• Physician’s signature

-          For emergency situations occurring when a physician cannot fax/send an order with the patient (i.e. holiday, weekend), a clinical employee may take a verbal order but it must be followed by a written order on the next business day.

In many situations, results are printed and then faxed or mailed to the doctor.  If the results indicate the patient may be very ill, the laboratory will call the doctor with the results.  The length of time between the drawing of the blood and when the doctor gets the results can vary greatly, from as little as a few minutes to as much as several weeks.  Urgency, geographic distances, processing schedules, complexity of the test, and other factors explain why it may sometimes take longer to obtain results.  If you have any questions or concerns about your results please contact your physician.