Case Study: Electronic ordering saves a family practitioner 1.5 hours per day

The hidden costs of cumbersome ordering was slowing down a Georgia clinic

Dr. Singleton cares for patients of all ages, ranging from toddlers to geriatrics. As a family practice with a full patient schedule, it’s necessary for him to stay organized. In the fall of 2014, he implemented Practice Fusion, but maintained his lab ordering workflow. He continued handwriting on lab slips then had a staff member generate the order in LabCorp’s Beacon system. Most often, both provider and staff struggled to keep up with the requests.

“I don’t have time, the nurses don’t have time,” Dr. Singleton points out. Amidst a busy schedule, the practice found that using a separate system for lab ordering was costing them much needed time.

Maximizing efficiency with electronic ordering and tracking

Last October, Dr. Singleton started using the new Practice Fusion ordering platform to maximize ordering efficiency.

Saving staff time with ordering right from the patient’s chart
With the availability of electronic ordering, Dr. Singleton and his staff were able to submit orders right from their patient’s chart with a process that’s simpler than paper. Any test or set of tests ordered were saved as templates for future use, allowing them to quickly reorder from the frequently used panel with just four clicks.

Dr. Singleton’s success with lab ordering has been a major driver for his business. “ [I] save about an hour to an hour and half of staff time a day.” Otherwise, he was planning on hiring another clinical staff member to process lab orders throughout the day.

Tracking order completion electronically
The new system has given Dr. Singleton the ability to review which orders still need completion to help track patient adherence. “It makes me feel good that I’m able to know I’m certain that the labs I want done, are done.”

Driving better patient care with ease
With the simplicity of electronic ordering, Dr. Singleton states, “Nobody has to order labs anymore. I do it. It’s not something that burdens me. As far as entering the tests that I want and entering the correct diagnoses and getting the results back, it can’t get any simpler than what I’m doing. I can’t imagine it being any simpler.” Having a frequent list of all past orders or results received allows Dr. Singleton to support patient care decisions.

“I’m a stickler for quality of care,” Dr. Singleton explains. “We’re able to take care of our patients like we need to by using this system.”

Get started with ordering today

To learn more on how to optimize electronic lab ordering in Practice Fusion visit our Learning Center.