Managing Standing Orders

After a standing order has been created, a specimen must be collected at the specified interval, and an instance of the standing order must be filed. This process is repeated until the end date occurs or the standing order is manually expired (canceled). You can file an instance of a standing order only by retrieving the patient using the Order Entry page.

In some cases, you might have to update a standing order—for example, to add or remove a diagnosis or test, start or stop reminders, or change the reminder method. You can edit a standing order only by retrieving the patient using the Order Entry page. Only standing orders that have not yet expired can be edited.

If a test no longer needs to be performed, the standing order can be expired at any time. You can expire one or more standing orders for a specific patient using the Order Entry page, or you can expire multiple standing orders for a specific client simultaneously using the Standing Order Management page.

If the lab supports this feature, you can also print standing order renewal letters, but only if an administrator enabled this feature for you, and only via the Standing Order Management page. Depending on how your user account and the client were configured by an administrator, you might be able to have standing order renewal letters faxed to the client rather than printing them.

If the test should continue to be performed after the original end date in the standing order, the standing order can be renewed. You can renew standing orders for a specific patient using the Order Entry page, or you can renew them for multiple patients of a specific client via the Standing Order Management page.

Even after a standing order has expired (either because its end date has passed or because it was manually expired), you can typically renew it. This enables you to leverage all of the information about the order that already exists in the system. (An administrator determines how long expired standing orders continue to appear on the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box in legacy order entry or the Patient’s Pending Orders section in streamlined order entry. You might be able to retrieve older expired standing orders via the Standing Order Management page.)

When you renew a standing order, you can specify only a new start and end date. If you need to change other aspects of the order (such as the frequency or tests to be performed), you must edit the standing order either before it expires or after you renew it. If the original standing order included a reminder, that reminder resumes when the order is renewed.

Notes:

• Hospital staff members cannot file, edit, expire, or renew a standing order, or print renewal letters.

• For generic orders, the generic lab name and generic client ID appear below the patient demographic information on the Standing Order Management page. If you do not want to include generic orders on that page or on the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box, clear the Include Generic (Held, Scheduled, Standing) check box in your user profile. (Generic standing orders never appear in the Patient’s Pending Orders section in streamlined order entry.)

• For LTC clients, instances of standing orders can be filed only via the draw list.

• If a particular Companion Diagnostics program is currently inactive, you cannot take any action with any previously created standing order for that program.

• You can file an instance of a Companion Diagnostics standing order only via the legacy Order Entry page.

• If you change the REMS ID for a Companion Diagnostics standing order, the new REMS ID will appear in the requisition log not only for the original standing order, but also for all previously filed instances of that standing order. In addition, the new REMS ID will appear on any reprinted requisition, and the requisition will not be not marked as edited.

• If you try to edit or file an instance of a standing order placed with Athena Diagnostics (ZBD), and you did not previously agree to the financial terms, you might be prompted to do so. Click Accept if you agree to these terms; you will not be prompted again. Otherwise, click Decline, and then click Continue on the next message. If you decline the terms, you will not be able to edit or file that order.

If you accept the terms, and subsequently decide not to accept them, contact the Help Desk to have ordering for Athena Diagnostics disabled for you.

• Some labs do not support the capability to send reminders or print renewal letters.

• For some labs and clients, standing order renewal letters can be automatically faxed to the client. This occurs only if the Queue Renewal Letter check box was selected when the standing order was created or edited by a Quest Diagnostics or contracted phlebotomist.

• When you open a standing order containing invalid order codes, a message appears at the top of the Order Entry page listing the invalid codes. Any invalid codes are automatically removed from the order, and you can add new order codes, as appropriate, before filing the order.

• If standing orders exist for a patient whose carrier is subsequently configured by an administrator to use a different lab, those existing standing orders will not be accessible. The patient’s existing standing orders cannot be filed, edited, or expired, and should not be renewed.

Manage Standing Orders for a Specific Patient via Legacy Order Entry

Manage Standing Orders for a Specific Patient via Streamlined Order Entry

Manage Standing Orders for a Specific Client