Rules-based Decision-support Technology
Orchard’s broad and diverse customer base has made Orchard’s lab systems the leader in flexible, rules-based, decision-making technology. Orchard’s decision-support technology improves workflow efficiency and reduces errors by offering advanced customizable rules to aid in decision making for order entry, splitting orders, auto-approval of patient results, reflexing additional testing, adding automatic comments, making clinical follow-up recommendations, and result delivery.
Rules for Order Entry
Order entry rules can be used to manage or eliminate duplicate orders or tests not appropriate for the patient age or gender, to route tests to other labs based on patient’s insurance, to split orders, to automatically
add venipuncture charges, and more. Rules alert the user before the order is saved, eliminating
the potential for errors.
Rules for Result Evaluation
Harvest LIS’ rules-based technology ensures the consistent execution of procedures, increases the productivity of your staff, and increases the speed of training new staff members. You can base rules on numerous data points, including test results, delta violations, providers, locations, patients, order priorities, and patient ages. You can also determine what actions Harvest LIS takes when a rule is triggered, such as adding required comments, holding tests, reflexing order choices, or printing form letters.
Harvest LIS captures instrument flags and error messages, eliminating instrument printouts and allowing technologists to review results at a single workstation. This feature is particularly beneficial in the Hematology lab, where there can be different technologists performing hemograms and manual differentials.
Rules for Result Delivery
With Harvest LIS’ rules for result delivery, you can automate the delivery of printed and/or faxed reports based on many conditions, including the provider, order location, draw location, test location, reporting group, order priority (Routine, ASAP, and STAT), or severity of the order. This eliminates manual steps that are time consuming and prone to error.
Rules for Microbiology Thresholds and Anatomic Pathology Result Evaluation
Because the Harvest LIS Microbiology module and Orchard Pathology system are fully integrated with Harvest LIS, robust rules-based decision-making power is available throughout the modules. With the Microbiology module, you can write microbiology threshold rules. You can document Kirby-Bauer zone sizes and let Harvest LIS provide interpretations using threshold rules based on organism, antibiotic type, and source. The module also supports CLSI/NCCLS deduced drugs. For pathology, you may create rules to present technical instructions automatically. As an example, you can customize result evaluation rules for workflow scenarios to suit an individual pathologist’s needs, and set up automatic reflex ordering for send-out tests and correlations based on the interpretation/results.
Rules for CPT Codes
Design CPT rules to automatically consolidate or change billing codes if testing conditions require it. For example, the decision to report a manual differential could trigger a rule to suppress the CBC with an automated differential billing code and change it to a hemogram with platelets and a manual differential code. You can create as many custom profiles as you want and let Harvest LIS’ CPT/billing rules ensure that the proper codes are assigned. Having accurate coding for work performed will increase reimbursements.