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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hospitals and clinics that rely on TriCore Reference Laboratories for patient test results are grappling with a longer-than-expected shutdown of the company’s electronic system, requiring that results to be delivered by paper or phone.

TriCore, which provides clinical testing for nearly 70 percent of New Mexico residents, began a planned shutdown of its system on Sunday so it could install new technology.

The shutdown was supposed to last from noon to midnight Sunday, but systems were still not fully back up as of Tuesday.

The delay prompted the University of New Mexico to launch an emergency operations center Monday morning so it could make sure “we’re all getting regular updates and are on the same page,” Health Sciences Center spokeswoman Alex Sanchez said.

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“The UNM Health System is adjusting to a delay due to a TriCore IT upgrade,” she said. “This was a planned system upgrade but has taken longer than expected.”

Sanchez said test results instead are being delivered by paper within the hospital and by phone to outpatient clinics.

The information will be entered electronically later by TriCore, she said.

TriCore spokeswoman Beth Bailey said she could not “commit to a timeline” on when the system will be fully operational.

“What’s happening now is we’re loading orders into the new system,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “It’s not 100 percent back up, but we’re in the process where electronic records are moving.”

TriCore does nearly 900,000 tests per month companywide, including 200,000 at UNM hospital and over 300,000 at Presbyterian.

Presbyterian providers are dealing with the shutdown by “submitting any urgent lab test orders via paper requisition so they can be processed immediately,” Clay Holderman, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said in a written statement.

Bailey said TriCore has been working with UNM and Presbyterian for more than a year to plan for the “down time.”

The new system will mean better and faster test results for TriCore’s customers, she said.

“The frustration you’re hearing is that the down time was a little bit longer than anticipated to get things running 100 percent,” she said. “Nothing is getting dropped or falling between the cracks. We’ve increased staffing to counter any slowdown.”