Laboratory Partners

Lab Network connects your system to a broad range of diagnostic laboratories, including national reference labs, regional and community facilities, specialty testing centers, and public health organizations.

Each laboratory partner supports electronic ordering and result delivery through Lab Network using standardized workflows.

Some tests and panels are vendor-specific. When an order includes tests from multiple laboratory catalogs, Lab Network may split the order to ensure each test is routed to a laboratory that supports it.

Overview

Laboratory partners provide the underlying diagnostic services that fulfill your orders.

Each partner:

• Maintains its own lab compendium
• Defines its own test availability and requirements
• Returns results based on its systems and capabilities

Lab Network standardizes ordering and result retrieval across partners while preserving laboratory-specific behavior where required.

Types of Laboratories

Lab Network connects to multiple categories of laboratory partners, each serving different use cases.

National Reference Laboratories

Large commercial laboratories with nationwide coverage and comprehensive test menus.

These laboratories:

• Offer broad diagnostic capabilities
• Support high-volume ordering
• Provide established electronic ordering and result workflows

Regional and Community Laboratories

Independent and hospital-affiliated laboratories serving specific regions or health systems.

These laboratories:

• Provide localized service coverage
• May offer faster turnaround times for certain tests
• Support regional care delivery workflows

Specialty Laboratories

Laboratories focused on specific diagnostic domains such as genetics, toxicology, pathology, or molecular testing.

These laboratories:

• Offer specialized test panels
• May require additional data or documentation at order time
• Often have unique workflow or metadata requirements

Public Health Laboratories

Government-affiliated laboratories supporting population health and reporting workflows.

These laboratories:

• Support public health programs and reporting requirements
• May use specialized submission formats or workflows

Each laboratory type follows the same core ordering and result retrieval model, but may differ in test availability, requirements, and result formats.

Selecting Laboratory Partners

You can search for laboratories and locations using Organization and Location resources to identify available providers and supported tests. Connect to one or more laboratory partners depending on your clinical and operational needs.

Example Laboratory Search

GET /fhir/R4/Organization?type=DiagnosticLaboratories&name=Quest

Example Location Search

GET /fhir/R4/Location?organization={organization-id}&ordering-enabled=true

Consider the following when selecting partners:

• Test availability: Whether the laboratory supports the required tests in its compendium
• Service area: Whether the laboratory’s coverage aligns with your patient population
• Turnaround time: Expected time from order submission to result availability
• Result format: Whether results are returned as structured FHIR data or document-based artifacts
• Workflow requirements: Any additional data or constraints required for ordering

Each laboratory partner includes its own compendium, routing rules, and result behavior. Only laboratories and locations with ordering enabled can accept electronic orders.

Routing and Order Separation

Laboratory selection directly affects routing behavior.

When your order includes tests that cannot be fulfilled by a single laboratory:

• Lab Network may split the order
• Each resulting order is routed to a laboratory that supports the requested tests

Splitting the order ensures accurate routing and prevents rejected or unsupported requests.

Configuration and Access

Laboratory connections are configured per partner.

Configuration includes:

• Enabling access to the laboratory
• Aligning compendium mappings
• Configuring routing behavior
• Validating order submission and result retrieval workflows

Before submitting production orders:

• Validate ordering and result retrieval in the sandbox environment
• Confirm compendium alignment for each laboratory
• Verify that routing behavior matches your intended workflows

Some laboratory partners may require additional credentialing or contractual setup before activation.

Workflow Considerations

When working with laboratory partners:

• Use compendium-aligned codes for each selected laboratory
• Expect differences in test availability and requirements
• Handle both structured and document-based results
• Account for variation in turnaround times across laboratories
• Ensure your workflows support splitting orders when required

Limitations

Laboratory partners differ in capabilities and behavior.

Differences may include:

• Available tests and panels
• Required inputs and specimen constraints
• Result formats and level of structure
• Turnaround times and delivery methods

Your system must account for these differences when supporting multiple laboratories.

Summary

Lab Network connects your system to multiple laboratory partners, each with its own compendium, requirements, and workflows.

Select and configure laboratory partners based on your use case, align orders with each partner’s compendium, and design workflows that account for differences in routing, requirements, and result delivery.