Hospital ER does not perform COVID tests; patients asked to call hotline, contact physician. 

July 3, 2020

Hospital ER does not perform COVID tests; patients asked to call hotline, contact physician. 

LUDINGTON — Personnel at Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital are requesting that anyone who believes they are in need of a COVID-19 test call the Spectrum Health free hotline at 833-559-0659 for screening and testing instructions or contact their primary care physician rather than come to the hospital’s emergency department. The emergency department does not perform outpatient COVID-19 tests.

“We are concerned as we head into a busy holiday weekend that people are mistakenly coming to the emergency department who are not having symptoms of COVID-19 and/or believe they’ve had an exposure and want a COVID-19 test,” said Dr. David Clark, medical director of emergency services at Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital. “In the emergency department, we are not able to provide outpatient COVID-19 testing for those who are without symptoms and want to be screened and tested without seeing a physician. There is a process set up for outpatient screening and testing; people can call the free screening hotline, complete a self-screening through their MyHealth account, or contact their primary care physician.”

Anyone who has been a patient of Spectrum Health and has a MyHealth account can go to https://www.spectrumhealth.org/covid19/myhealth-screening and receive a free screening and an outpatient testing appointment, if warranted through the screening process.

Patients can also contact their primary care physician.

People experiencing life-threatening symptoms or conditions should call 9-1-1.

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