How Workpath Technology Helps Specialty Labs Improve Phlebotomy Logistics, Eliminate Inefficiencies, and Grow Their Reach
It’s estimated that 70% of healthcare decisions start in one place: blood. The engine of medical analysis, blood diagnostics are essential to the entire healthcare system. In the US, healthcare experts estimate that blood is drawn 3.9 million times per day, a rate of 100 draws per second.
But there’s a problem.
Despite the major role of blood diagnostics, one in three draws ordered are never completed due the complicated and disconnected phlebotomy marketplace. This results in approximately 1.3 million wasted draw opportunities a day, totaling 475 million a year!
A deeper look at the waste within the industry shows a wide variety of barriers inherent in the current system. Patients, for example, are often late, get lost, forget, or simply don’t show up. And making matters worse, finding a blood draw facility in some communities for specialty testing can be challenging. Not to mention, locating quality and available phlebotomists trained to perform a specialty draw can be a major hurdle for more than 5,000 specialty labs around the county. These are just a few of the growing barriers that are preventing some of the most important blood tests from taking place.
When this happens, the best science in the world by labs processing blood samples are never given an opportunity to help predict and prevent disease. In these cases, the system fails the physician ordering the test, the phlebotomist drawing blood for the test, the lab receiving and testing the blood, and most important — the patient.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. The process for organizing the labor to make blood tests possible and delivering testing anywhere, anytime can be easily overhauled. Today, technology has the ability to connect the disconnected, close gaps in care, and automate a once cumbersome system.
Automated Intelligence Makes Dispatching Blood Draw Appointments Simple
The disconnected and fragmented process that labs have been forced to contend with in the past for quality blood draws has been remedied. Using smart technology, labs can now send and track all of their blood draw appointments with ease. Using a HIPAA compliant system like Workpath allows specialty and reference labs to match the right phlebotomists — be it an employee, vendor, or third party network to perform draws anytime, anywhere. Workpath’s intelligence quickly stratifies the lab’s workforce by availability, location, certifications, and rating. Labs can control the process while the system automatically sends work opportunities to their qualified phlebotomy workforce to accept on a first come, first serve basis, or they can assign individually.
Smart Technology Ensures the Right Test, Right Time, Right Place
With Workpath, labs around the US are coordinating and dispatching their phlebotomists to perform draws and other collections in a smarter and more efficient way. Workpath’s lab partners report that they no longer rely on spreadsheets, phone tag, fax machines, and other outdated methods to manage their phlebotomy labor, vendors, and third party networks. On average, lab partners at Workpath ensured that 98.2% of blood draw appointments occurred as planned with 99% specimen integrity. And at the same time, labs who use Workpath to organize quality phlebotomy labor have reduced email by 65% and phone calls by 40%, allowing them to streamline communication and focus on continued quality.
Real Time Communication Ensures Better Healthcare Experiences for All
In addition to improved efficiency and coordination, labs are leveraging Workpath to monitor everything from a centralized dashboard throughout the entire appointment in order to meet and exceed compliance standards and to improve overall outcomes. Through the Workpath mobile app, labs are quickly and easily sharing key details with their phlebotomists and specimen collectors, including navigation to the appointment, draw instructions, patient info, and more. And at the same time, patient messaging keeps all appointments on track and the patient informed every step of the way. As a result, labs are seeing dramatic improvements in patient satisfaction, appointment compliance, specimen integrity, and an increase in their business.
Centralized Monitoring Tools Improve Compliance and Results
Workpath allows labs to be as hands-on or off knowing that the system monitors everything on a centralized dashboard throughout the entire draw appointment to ensure compliance and to improve record keeping. Labs can also use patient provided ratings to continually vet their workforce and improve quality experiences for everyone involved in an appointment.
Tech that Helps Labs Expand Their Reach and Grow Their Business
Labs using the Workpath platform can simply upload their workforce to the platform in order to seamlessly dispatch their labor to service draw opportunities on behalf of the lab. Using customizable service request forms, labs can easily receive and carryout physician or patient requested draw appointment opportunities, whether in-office, patient service center, or in the home. This enables labs to more efficiently create new business, open new territories, and manage a nationwide labor ecosystem.
To learn more about the many ways smart technology is improving the lab and phlebotomy industries, visit workpath.co, email us at sales@workpath.co, or call 804–592–1932 to set up a free demo.
