Notice on Written Lab Orders

Under a new policy effective this month, the Anatomic Pathology, Clinical and Transfusion Medicine laboratories will not accept orders for laboratory tests for ambulatory patients without the signature of the ordering physician on the laboratory requisition. In such cases, patients will be instructed to return to the practice to obtain the signature on the laboratory requisition. In addition, a physician's signature is also required on the laboratory requisition for specimens that are collected in the practices such as throat or urine cultures.

Laboratory requisitions must also include the following information: patient's full name and medical record number; gender, name of ordering physician or BICS ID; ICD-9 code(s); initials or ID code of the person collecting the specimen and order date.

Clinician compliance with these requirements will be monitored. Monthly management reports will be made available to department administrators, and these reports will include the dollar value of services considered non-billable due to missing information.