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Electronic lab results are laboratory test results that are transferred electronically as structured data from laboratory vendors (that are integrated with Elation) directly into patient charts in the EHR.
To view a list of Elation's integrated laboratory vendors, go to our Partners page and filter by "Laboratories".
Structured lab results allow for better visibility of results and customers can trend test result data over time for their patients. You can also reference specific results directly into a visit note for more efficient charting.
When results are sent electronically from a lab vendor to Elation, Elation matches incoming laboratory results to existing patient charts by first name, last name, date of birth, and gender. When the new lab result is received in Elation, you can view the patient’s lab result in the following places:
If it is not possible to match the lab result to an existing chart with the same first name, last name, DOB and gender, a new patient chart will be created (see below for more details).
The Reports Queue is found on the ordering provider’s Practice Home page under “Reports.” Lab results will appear in this queue, with the results listed in order of your sort preferences. Any abnormal results will be flagged in the Reports queue with red text (shown in the image below).
Users wishing to view lab results ordered by another provider will need to switch their “View Queue For” settings to “Everyone” or to a specific provider. To view the report:
- Click the patient’s name in the report summary to open the patient chart.
- Once you have opened the patient’s chart, follow the “Requiring Action” steps below.
Lab results will appear in the patient’s chart under “Requiring Action.” From the “Requiring Action” queue the provider can review the result and choose to
- “Sign off”
- “Sign off & Send to patient”
- “Sign off & Send to provider” outside of Elation
Once the report has been “Signed off,” the report will be removed from the Requiring Action queue and filed in the Patient’s chronological record.
Hovering over the lab result will allow the user to click “Actions” to take any of the following next steps:
- Sending an internal office message about the patient’s results
- Sending the results to another provider via a Letter or Referral
- Sending a letter to the patient with the results
- Editing the details to change the document date, report category, title, or tags
- Marking a previous lab report as partial (because the current one has all of the final results)
- Marking a report as confidential
- Printing
- Appending the results to another report to link them
- Refiling the results to another patient's chart because it was incorrectly filed
- Reassigning the report to another provider to review
- Removing (deleting) the report entirely
The result can also be viewed by clicking the "Reports" tab from the gray navigation bar and then selecting “Lab Reports.” This can be helpful if you wish to see all the lab results in one place. To view the lab result:
- Click on the report to open it
- Hovering over result values with your mouse will display the reference ranges and provide additional comments.
- All abnormal results will be flagged in red to emphasize these results.
Hovering over the lab result will allow the user to click “Actions” to take any of the next steps as described in the previous section. There are also some additional “Actions” which can be performed from here. These include:
- adding a report addendum- this is a great option for notes
- referencing all starred values in a note
- referencing all abnormal values in a note
- adding lab values for trending
- linking results to a lab order
Some labs also include PDF attachments with the result. To view these, press the “Download PDF version of report” link to download the attachment.
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Note: You can upload the PDF version back into the patient's chart if you wish to using our
Drag & Drop feature. However, to protect PHI, we recommend deleting the PDF report from your computer after you have stored it in the patient's chart again.
Elation matches incoming laboratory results to existing charts by patient name, date of birth, and gender. If an incoming result does not match an existing chart, a new chart will be created with a warning banner. The banner will prompt you to “Merge Chart” or “Dismiss” depending on whether or not the patient already has a chart.
When “Merge Chart” is selected, you will be prompted to merge the duplicate chart into the patient's existing chart along with the lab results. Once this merge is completed, Elation will “remember” the chart merge for future results for the same patient and not create a duplicate chart again for the specific lab vendor. For more information on merging duplicate charts click here.
Patient Passport is Elation’s patient portal that allows your practice to send copies of lab results (and orders) to patients. See the Letters & Referrals Guide- Sending messages to patients & corresponding with third party professionals article on how to send messages to patients using Patient Passport.
Similar to Patient Tags, you can tag reports in Elation to categorize them for better organization, and to make them easier to find via chart search and Patient List search. For example, if you want to track all of your patients that have an abnormal HbA1c test result, you can add a tag for any patient that are higher than 9%. Then, you can use the Patient List to run a report for all of the applicable patients.
To tag a report:
- Click on the “Actions” button in the report
- Select “Edit Details”
- Enter the Tags you would like to add in the "Tags" field
- Click "Save"
See this article for more information on Document Tags for Reports.
Next Step
Start exploring your electronic lab results!
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