Connectivity & Error Reduction Produces Big ROI

"We wanted to take ourselves out of the picture completely with outsourced genetic testing. Having the ELLKAY connection allows a faster turnaround time as the order comes directly from the EHR and goes directly to their laboratory of choice. We were able to set up an automatic process based on tests, not on insurance, that certain genetic tests generate a requisition for the laboratory of choice and there's no confusion moving forward."

Additionally, the ELLKAY solutions team engineered an option to "break the hold" and release critical holds. Physicians wanted to receive their patient's lab results all at once when the entire order is complete. The ELLKAY automation allows all results to be sent to the ordering practice once the order is complete without implementing any time-based automatic holds. Conversely, the system will send results immediately, bypassing the hold when an individual test is requested to be sent stat, or if a critical result is received. While critical results trigger a phone call to the ordering physician, the information is also immediately available in the EHR ready to be reviewed and/or forwarded to the patient via a patient portal if necessary.

Internal staff were initially hesitant to embrace a new system, but the engagement increased greatly once the benefits were understood.

"The benefit is two-fold. The first is the ROI, saving four minutes in the requisition process at accessioning, which allows us to maintain current FTE while increasing sample intake. The second was where we got the most engagement. The vast reduction and near elimination of patient data entry errors. Every time a staff member has to manually enter data, it is fraught with the possibility of a data entry error. Working with ELLKAY allowed us to take that possibility out."

ELLKAY automatically matches up the external patient medical record number (MRN) from the practice to the WakeMed Health MRN, which was a big enhancement for continuity of care in the community. Now all lab results exist in their EHR, regardless of the ordering physician.