MagnaCare, the preferred provider network that Local 802’s Health Benefits Plan is linked to, recently announced changes in their list of participating clinical laboratories.

A new addition is Quest Diagnostics, which joined the network this summer. Lab services which were performed at SmithKline Beecham Labs are now being billed by Quest. Quest coverage became effective on April 1, 2000.

Two labs have left the MagnaCare system: Shiel Medical Labs, which operates in Brooklyn, and C&S Clinical Diagnostic Services, with offices in New Jersey, New York City, Westchester, Dutchess, Nassau and Suffolk counties.

While MagnaCare will be notifying physicians of changes to the list of participating labs, they stress that it is important for people to remind their doctors’ staff (and particularly doctors who have used Shiel or C&S) at the time of their appointment that these two labs no longer participate with MagnaCare.