As we receive heartening news of the progress made by biopharma companies across the world in developing a viable vaccine to counteract the spread of COVID-19, the end of the global pandemic may just finally be in sight. However, as there’s a long road ahead till the final approval and delivery of billions of vaccine doses, we must stay vigilant to control the further spread of the virus right now with effective COVID-19 testing.
This is exactly why we need widespread, systematic and accurate testing in order to curtail the further spread of the virus during the next 6 to 12 months.
As states, healthcare departments and healthcare centers step up testing efforts, thousands of tests are being performed daily. This, in turn, is putting an excessive amount of pressure on diagnostic centers and testing labs to process and deliver accurate results, faster.
Apart from conducting the actual tests, the teams at these testing centers also have to handle an increasing amount of paperwork, i.e., processing patient demographic data and other information from the test requisition forms that accompany the samples to be tested.
Extracting and entering information from these forms is by no means an easy task. Accurate data entry is essential for the right sample to be matched with the right patient and further provides a wealth of information about the patient, the location of testing and other vital information.
As efforts to scale up COVID-19 testing, these labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks can be outsourced to deliver efficiency while improving your testing capacities.
The Challenges
Effective Collaboration Across COVID-19 Testing Sites
As testing efforts are stepped up, pop-up testing sites, hospitals, nursing homes, state clinics and visiting physicians are handling between a few hundred to a few thousand COVID-19 tests per day.
The entire process from the collection of samples until their arrival at the laboratory for testing requires a considerable amount of joint collaboration across different agencies and individuals. This holds true for the entire test kit containing the sample and the accompanying test requisition form as well.
The data from these forms needs to be entered correctly to create accurate records in the testing database and to match the sample to the correct patient for an accurate diagnosis.
COVID-19 Test Requisition Form Processing
COVID-19 test requisition forms play a vital role in the fight in controlling further spread of the virus. The form contains not only the details of the ordering physician but also the patient demographic data, i.e., patient medical information and patient record data.
Apart from this data, all forms for COVID-19 testing also contain details of the patient’s movements and travel history that help establish a trail of contact and identify the source of the contraction.
Extracting Patient Demographics Data
Patient demographics data helps identify a patient and further categorize them for statistical analysis. Extracting and processing data from different data fields is a highly complex task that needs to be performed with great care.
This task is made even more difficult by the fact that many of the incoming forms have handwritten data that is harder to decrypt and extract. As labs and diagnostic companies receive forms in different formats, as physical forms, digital files or even images, smarter solutions are required to process and deliver high-quality data on time.
Matching Samples to Patients
Each test requisition form contains a unique identity number that is essential to the entire testing process. Once the number has been entered into the system it further helps the diagnostic company or lab track the progress of the corresponding sample.
This means that this data has to be aggregated and delivered to the testing lab before the samples are tested. Any delay can hold up testing or errors in the unique identification numbers by even a single digit can result in the test results being delivered to the wrong person.
Accelerating Result Delivery Time for COVID-19 Tests
As we can see above, every data point on COVID-19 test requisition forms needs to be entered, mapped out and processed with great precision. However, given the current climate, we need to scale up testing for timely quarantine and contact tracing.
This requires shorter testing cycles backed by advanced diagnostic kits including molecular and antibody testing. With the aid of an outsourcing partner that can process and deliver test requisition data in time, testing cycles can be improved and shortened to improve patient data flow.
ARDEM’s Solutions for COVID-19 Test Requisition Form Processing
Test Requisition Management
ARDEM receives testing requisition forms from different COVID-19 testing centers including pop-up testing sites, hospitals, nursing homes, state clinics and even visiting physicians for both on-site and at-home testing.
Once the scanned copies or even images of the test requisition forms are received, they are immediately entered into our processing cycle and delivered as per client requirements.
Real-Time Processing
Patient demographics and other vital data are extracted from test requisition forms using a combination of effort-based processing, machine learning and robotic process automation.
With the aid of robust processes, smart people and advanced technology, aggregated data is processed and compiled in real-time to ensure the results can be entered directly into the client’s system.
Ensured Accuracy
At ARDEM, we are cognizant of the fact that healthcare data needs to be processed while ensuring the highest possible accuracy as a mistake even by a single digit can have serious consequences.
We employ a proprietary methodology that includes double key data entry alongside compare and validation checks that promise close to 100% accurate data.
Compliance and Security
Data security is taken quite seriously by us and as an ISO27001 certified data entry company, we employ stringent security measures along with a series of SSLs, VPNs and protocols to keep your information secure.
Additionally, HIPAA, PHI and PII compliances are strictly followed while entering, processing and sharing data for patient data security.
If you would like to learn more about our COVID-19 test requisition form processing solutions, then you can get in touch with our team to schedule a free consultation.