So it seems a new drug testing has opened in the Seattle, WA area. Bellevue, WA to be exact. Northwest Physicians Laboratories. It seems its owned by a couple of local pain doctors Dr Hyun Hong and Dr Dan Kim and a rep from Alere Toxicology Richard Reid. Something odd about this lab. They let other doctors buy ownership or stake in the lab? Not sure that that means. I have heard that Dr Dan Nelson, Dr David Naibert, Dr Jay Sun, and Dr Erik Suh, have paid this lab to be part of it and they get paid from the lab in return. Interesting. But something I came across, they aren't using/providing a requisition form when the drug test is ordered. Don't you have to have one of those? It appears they tell the account or doctor to print off their own lab order. I was told they have been operating since May of 2012 and they haven't used a req form all this time. How can that be? I had one of their "accounts" show me what they do and they print off a simplified word document that has drug tests results then sends that to the lab. Really?
Does the Word document meet these CLIA requirements? If so, than that is fine, as long as it it requested by an authorized party to perform medical testing. §493.1241 Standard: Test request. (a) The laboratory must have a written or electronic request for patient testing from an authorized person. (b) The laboratory may accept oral requests for laboratory tests if it solicits a written or electronic authorization within 30 days of the oral request and maintains the authorization or documentation of its efforts to obtain the authorization. (c) The laboratory must ensure the test requisition solicits the following information: (1) The name and address or other suitable identifiers of the authorized person requesting the test and, if appropriate, the individual responsible for using the test results, or the name and address of the laboratory submitting the specimen, including, as applicable, a contact person to enable the reporting of imminently life threatening laboratory results or panic or alert values. (2) The patient's name or unique patient identifier. (3) The sex and age or date of birth of the patient. (4) The test(s) to be performed. (5) The source of the specimen, when appropriate. (6) The date and, if appropriate, time of specimen collection. (7) For Pap smears, the patient's last menstrual period, and indication of whether the patient had a previous abnormal report, treatment, or biopsy. (8) Any additional information relevant and necessary for a specific test to ensure accurate and timely testing and reporting of results, including interpretation, if applicable. (d) The patient's chart or medical record may be used as the test requisition or authorization but must be available to the laboratory at the time of testing and available to CMS or a CMS agent upon request. (e) If the laboratory transcribes or enters test requisition or authorization information into a record system or a laboratory information system, the laboratory must ensure the information is transcribed or entered accurately.
Let's just say that the physicians didn't order the test in detail as suggested above, and that other non clinical staff make the decision to perform the test, and after the fact, when a test has been performed, physicians are directed to place the orders in the medical record, and patients have no choice of laboratory.
