Paul, I understand your logic and questions.
The lab always has their copy and can easily be looked up when you have any doubt in their system which is online. I am not sure how long they keep it but it is at least a year and most likely longer. You can set up with Quest anyway you like, we still have paper reporting as a back up at their expense, so why not.
I haven't looked at how it is stored in the AC folder and assume it is stored in much the same way as it was before. It is a file with numbers and date and when we opened them before, it would open as a PDF file, not sure how it opens now since the interface. The bridge they are building is to link the demographics in AC with the Quest requisition page so that the MA only needs to put in an account number and the patient with demographics is populated on their screen. We have this set up currently with our previous PM software, eMedware. Quest had it already at the time and unfortunately, we are still using it for new patients. I hate this and am anxiously awaiting the new bridge between Quest and Amazing Charts or Avisena and Amazing Charts, whichever comes first for me. Duplication of work is never a good thing, it is a waste of time. Now, you assumed right that it is only done once, when the patient is new, but when the information is updated, I have not thought about is it updated in the Quest system. Quest did tell me that since I was the first one they set up the interface for, they have since had another practice and it would be a lot easier for that practice. It seems that is is regional and very dependent on who you are talking to at Quest. Not everyone seems to know what is going on but that is in other things at Quest also. With Labcorp, let me just say, I don't even want to talk about it, I gave up. Maybe someone else has a more positive experience they can share.
By the way, no duplicate patients in Quest, they keep track of that. You can look up people by name or account number.
