MEMORANDUM
To: Adena Medical Group Providers
From: H. Takaji Kittaka, Jr., M.D., CMO Primary Care
Date: Sept. 1, 2016
Subject: Expired Ancillary Orders Clean up
At the request of physician leadership, Adena’s Medical Executive Committee recently agreed to extend the expiration dates of lab or testing orders from six months to 13 months. This new process is intended to help eliminate any need for re-orders, should a patient not receive recommended ancillary testing within the six-month window.
This change in process is scheduled to roll out on Nov. 1, 2016.
However, before the new process begins, there are more than 146,000 outstanding orders in eCW that must be reconciled. These may be reconciled by the ordering provider, or a member of the clinic staff.
Sarah Coyan has been working with your manager regarding this communication and outlining the following process for staff to follow:
1. All orders open beyond 1 year should be cancelled.
2. For open orders from 7/1/2015 – 2/5/2016 a task should be sent to the provider asking if he/she wants it re-ordered, because it was never done. Any open order can be cancelled if the same lab has been completed at any time following the order date.
In the event the outstanding orders are not reconciled, patients with open orders in the system that are older than six months, may inadvertently have bloodwork drawn or undergo unnecessary testing. This could result in an unnecessary, additional bill for the patient.
Moving forward, this reconciliation process should be completed regularly when patients are in for follow-up visits. Providers, or their designee, should review all of their patient(s) outstanding lab and testing orders, and cancel any orders that are no longer needed or valid.
You can locate outstanding orders by clicking on the ‘L’ jellybean, then clicking ‘Outstanding.’
If you or staff have any questions or concerns about this process change, feel free to contact either myself, at , or Sarah Coyan at .
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.