Ohio State responds to medical center lab warning

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio State University says the improper transmission of medical lab samples earlier this year was an accident that did not affect patients’ health and won’t happen again.

The university says in a June 25 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the loss of a lab certification and the ability to accept Medicare payments because of the mistake would have dire consequences for patients and doctors throughout central Ohio.

At issue are samples the government says were improperly sent from the university’s clinical lab to another Ohio State lab in violation of university and federal policies that prohibit samples from being analyzed elsewhere.

The university says the samples were artificial and meant to test lab procedures and no patients were affected.