Public Health Laboratory

Office hours: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM

The primary objective of the Public Health - Seattle & King County Laboratory is to assist in the prevention of disease spread. This is accomplished by identifying patients and environmental samples which carry organisms that are potentially harmful to the health of the residents of King County. One of the ways to achieve this objective is for the public health laboratory to make available certain services to health care providers.

	Lab Directory of Services
	Lab Test Order Form

The following fee and billing information only applies to services provided to non-Public Health – Seattle & King County health care providers. A fee which covers the cost of providing service is imposed for all procedures. Fees are listed on pages 8 – 9 of this informational bulletin. We are not authorized to bill individual patients. Statements will be sent each month to the health care providers who have submitted specimens. Health care providers can avoid billing by having their patient submit a check for payment of test at the time the specimen is submitted.

We will bill DSHS if a Medicaid coupon or a Medicaid Patient Identification Code (PIC) number, health care provider's name, and diagnosis code accompanies the patient's specimen. We will also bill private insurance, other than Regence Blue Shield, if the required billing information accompanies the patient’s specimen. We are not authorized to bill Medicare and Regence Blue Shield; hence specimens submitted for patients with Medicare and Regence Blue Shield will be billed to the health care providers.

The Public Health Laboratory strongly encourages all laboratories located in King County to submit their Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates for confirmation. Submission of N. gonorrhoeae subcultures will satisfy the laboratory reporting requirement for gonorrhea (WAC 246-101-201).

Refrigerate all specimens except gonorrhea cultures, trichomonas cultures, chancroid cultures, and Quantiferon-TB specimens until they are delivered to the Public Health Laboratory or to a health department specimen pickup station.

• Gonorrhea cultures are to be kept in a 35-37ºC incubator with 3-10% CO₂ and increased humidity overnight before they are delivered to the Public Health Laboratory or to a health department specimen pickup station.
• Trichomonas cultures are to be kept at room temperature and delivered to the Public Health Laboratory the same day or kept in a 37ºC incubator overnight before they are delivered to the Public Health Laboratory or to a health department specimen pickup station.
• Quantiferon-TB specimens are to be kept at room temperature and delivered to the public health laboratory within 16 hours of collection or incubated at 37ºC for 16 to 24 hours and delivered to the public health laboratory within 3 days. Most supplies and containers are available at the Public Health Laboratory and at health department specimen pickup stations.

The addresses of the health department specimen pickup stations and approximate specimen pickup times are listed on page 7 of this informational bulletin.

For further information, contact the Public Health Laboratory at 206-744-8950 or by FAX at 206-744-8963.