If you can access more than one lab, and you open a held, scheduled, or standing order via the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box for one of your assigned labs that is not your current lab, you might be able to manually redirect that order to another of your assigned labs. (If the order cannot be processed at the chosen lab, you can still complete the order with its original lab.)
Even if you can access only one lab, you might also be able to file a pending order that was placed with a Quest Diagnostics lab that you cannot access. You can do this only when you retrieve the patient via the Order Entry page, and only when the Search Nationally check box is selected on the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box.
These orders fall into the following categories:
• Redirected orders. If your lab supports this feature, you can complete almost any pending order placed with a lab that allows its orders to be processed elsewhere. This ensures that a patient can still have a specimen collected while traveling. For example, if your facility is in Florida, you might be able to file an instance of a standing order that was created for a patient in Pennsylvania. (These orders are sometimes referred to as snowbird orders.)
When you open a redirected order, the lab typically changes from the original lab to your current lab. However, if more than one of your assigned labs can process redirected orders, you are prompted to choose the appropriate one. The client also changes from the original client to the redirect client associated with the performing lab. The original client is added to the list of report recipients. If the client has a fax number in eLabs, the test results are faxed to that client. Otherwise, they are mailed. (The Fax or Mail check box is automatically selected and inactive on the Additional Copies dialog box.)
• Companion Diagnostics orders. Companion Diagnostics orders are standing orders designed to help physicians determine the best treatment approach based on how the patient responds to specific therapies. These orders can be performed at a different lab when the patient is traveling or when the lab where the order was created cannot perform those tests. On the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box, appears next to any Companion Diagnostics order.
When you file an instance of a Companion Diagnostics standing order that was created for a different lab, the lab typically changes from the original lab to your current lab or the only one of your assigned labs that can process Companion Diagnostics orders. If you are assigned more than one lab that can process Companion Diagnostics orders, you are prompted to choose the appropriate one. The client also changes from the original client to the appropriate national Companion Diagnostics client. The original client is added to the list of report recipients, and the Mail check box is automatically selected and inactive on the Additional Copies dialog box.
• Nationwide orders. Certain clients (such as those associated with transplant centers) are considered nationwide clients. Unlike national clients, which have the same client number at all Quest Diagnostics labs, nationwide clients might have different client numbers at different labs. However, they all have the same mailing address and are mapped to one another by an administrator. This ensures that an order created at a transplant center can be performed by a different lab when the patient returns home, and the results can be mailed to the appropriate location. On the Patient Search - Advanced Results dialog box, appears next to any nationwide order.
When you open a nationwide order, the lab typically changes automatically to your current lab or whichever of your assigned labs is appropriate. However, if you can access more than one appropriate lab, you are prompted to choose the desired one. The client also changes from the original client to the appropriate client for the performing lab. Since both clients have the same mailing address, the original client is not added to the list of report recipients. In addition, if the lab changes to any lab other than your current lab, a message advising you where to ship the specimen appears on the requisition.
• Remotely filed orders. As with a redirected order, this order type allows you to complete a pending order placed with a different lab, so that a patient can still have a specimen collected while traveling. However, this functionality is enabled for specific order codes only; for example, to support the more time-sensitive processing of donor and post‑transplant specimens. When you open a pending order, you are automatically granted temporary access to the originating lab, allowing to you file the order in a lab that you cannot normally access. The originating lab is automatically selected as the Lab in which the order will be filed and you have no option to change the lab.
If the tests cannot be performed by your current or selected lab, a message indicates the reason. You might be able to redirect the order to another of your assigned labs or print the information from the order so that you can recreate it at a lab that you can access.
If you split one of these orders manually before filing it, the split order appears in the hold list for your current lab rather than the original lab.