Initiate a Lab Order
1 In the menu bar, click Order Entry.
If the legacy Order Entry page appears, click the link in the banner at the top of the page to go to streamlined order entry. If that banner does not appear, see Placing an Order via Legacy Order Entry.
2 Do one or more of the following:
• Retrieve an existing patient. If you just placed an order for a particular patient, you can place another order for that patient by clicking the button with that patient's name. Otherwise, if the patient was previously registered, if an order was previously filed for this patient via this application, or if you have an active bridge and patient demographic information exists in an external system (such as a PMS or POS), follow these steps:
Note: Only patients associated with clients that support order entry can be retrieved. |
a In the Search By list, click the appropriate option.
You can search by the patient’s name, SSN, or patient ID. The option that you last used appears in the list automatically.
b If you clicked Name or PID, type at least one character of the patient’s last name or patient ID in the adjacent box.
If you clicked SSN, type at least the first three digits of the patient’s SSN (with or without the hyphens).
Notes: • When searching for a patient by name, you can use any of the following formats: • LastName (such as • LastName, FirstName (such as • FirstName LastName (such as For either name, you must type at least one character. You can also optionally include a space and the patient’s date of birth, including forward slashes (such as If the patient’s first name contains a space, you must specify the last name first. For example, to find Mary Ann Doe, you must type If the patient’s last name contains a space, you must include a comma after it. For example, to find John Da Silva, you must type at least • If you type fewer than three characters of the patient ID, only exact matches will be retrieved. • If you have an active bridge and search by patient ID, you must type the complete patient ID. For some bridges, the patient ID is case sensitive. If your external system uses a separate identifier (such as a company number) to determine where to retrieve the patient data, you might have to type that identifier first, followed by a hyphen and the patient ID (such as company#-PID). |
c Click Search.
d If the Combo Bridge Control dialog box appears, go to step f.
Otherwise, review the search results.
The Patients Found section indicates the total number of matching patients for all of the clients that you can access at your current lab, and displays the list. (If more than 100 matching patients are found, the total displays 100+, only the first 100 patients are listed, and a message advises you to refine your search.) For more information about this section, see Patient Information.
Tip: To sort the search results, click the appropriate column heading. You can click the column heading again to reverse the sort order. |
If no matching patients were found, a message advises you of this. If the information that you specified was incorrect (for example, if you clicked Name and then typed an identification number), search for the patient again using the correct information. Otherwise, add the patient (as described later in this procedure).
e Click the appropriate patient in the search results list.
If the patient information appears at the top of the page, go to step 3.
If the Combo Bridge Control or Bridge Information dialog box appears, go to step f.
Note: If you retrieve a patient with an insurance carrier that must change based on the location of the client or facility, a message advises you of the change. |
f For some types of bridges or searches, the Combo Bridge Control dialog box appears while one or more attempts are made to retrieve the patient information from the external system. When the process is complete, the Combo Bridge Control dialog box closes automatically, and the Bridge Information dialog box appears.
Note: If a connection cannot be made to the external system, a message advises you of this. Click Close to close the Combo Bridge Control dialog box and then search for the patient without using the bridge, or add the patient (as described later in this procedure). |
For other types of bridges or searches, only the Bridge Information dialog box appears.
If patient information was retrieved, click OK on the Bridge Information dialog box. The information appears on the Order Entry page. Go to step 3.
If no patient information was retrieved, the Bridge Information dialog box is blank. To try again to retrieve the patient information from the external system (for example, if you initially typed the wrong patient ID), make any appropriate changes and then click Bridge. Otherwise, click Cancel and search for the patient without using the bridge, or add the patient (as described later in this procedure).
a Click Add New Patient.
If you do this after performing an unsuccessful search, the data that you provided appears automatically in the appropriate box in the Patient Information section. For example, if you searched for a patient named Smith who was born on September 21, 1958 and then clicked Add New Patient, Smith automatically appears in the Last Name box and 9/21/1958 automatically appears in the DOB box.
b Complete at least the required patient demographic information.
3 Verify that the patient demographic information is correct, and make any needed changes.
For more information about patient demographics, see the procedure for adding a patient in step 2.
Notes: • You cannot change the patient’s Health ID (if any). • If you retrieved an existing patient, and the system is set up to send the order to a different lab based on that patient’s insurance carrier, insurance ID, or group number, a message in the Insurance Information area indicates which lab and carrier will be used automatically. To order tests from your current lab instead, click Override in that message. However, this might affect patient billing. • Under some circ*mstances, if you change an existing patient’s name, date of birth, or sex, the Key Demographic Field Changed dialog box appears. If it is appropriate to change the existing patient record (for example, if the patient’s name changed due to marriage), click the Update the current patient option button. Otherwise, click the File as new patient option button. Then click OK. If you chose to file as a new patient, any existing SSN, patient ID, MRN, chart ID, location, ward, station, room, bed, or admission date is automatically removed. A new patient ID is generated automatically. You can change or remove the patient ID as appropriate. • If you specify a patient ID that is already used by another patient of the same client, the Patient Key Conflict dialog box appears. To retain the PID that you typed or to type a new one, click the Retain the existing PID option button. Otherwise, click the Generate a new PID option button to automatically generate a new ID. Then click OK. • Any changes that you make to the patient demographic information are saved in the patient’s record when you complete the order. If you cancel the order, the changes are not saved. |
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