High complexity CLIA lab clients need urgent COVID-19 testing support

On March 12, 2020, Pathagility received word that several high complexity CLIA lab clients and prospects received FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) applications for COVID-19 testing to support the worldwide pandemic.  The lab testing industry was challenged to find solutions that would handle unprecedented volumes of testing with result turnaround times (TAT) being of  the utmost importance to help reduce the spread of the virus.  With this news and this challenge, the Pathagility team worked around the clock to stand up a rapid deployment solution for handling this new testing.

Some advantages that Pathagility had that allowed for faster movement were 1) it’s system architecture allowed for quick deployment of system resources 2) flexibility to adapt to new lab order entry and result types 3) and a comprehensive listing of integration options. Nine days (March 21, 2020) after receiving the EUA news, the first live patient COVID-19 results were signed in the Pathagility system.

From that point, the emphasis moved to helping these high complexity CLIA labs scale to handle large volumes. This included further deploying the capabilities of batch order entry and barcoding to support big population groups like nursing homes, correctional facilities, universities, and companies. Pathagility utilized it’s API and HL7 integration ability to streamline the ordering process for many organizations as well. This also included managing the workflows of drive thru testing centers where each location was seeing hundreds of patients a day utilizing telemedicine.

Once the order information and sample were received, Pathagility helped manage the flow of those samples through each lab’s custom workflow. These lab organizations were working multi-shift teams around the clock (24/7) to keep up with the volume and the needed TATs to support their patients, physicians and facilities. Increased Pathagility resources were applied in real-time to handle the processing of results and to efficiently get that result data to the appropriate endpoints including patient portals, EMRs, and State Government systems.

Within nine days of receiving the FDA EUA notification, lab clients were processing COVID-19 results for patients in Pathagility. One year later, the Pathagility system had processed more than 2 Million COVID-19 results and continues to process today. At the highest peaks, labs were processing more than 250,000 results a month in Pathagility with some days surpassing 20,000/day from all across the country with larger concentrations in Michigan, Texas and Arkansas. From direct entry, to bulk consumption and fast-entry applications, Pathagility managed the process flow of requisitions, orders, data interpretations, results, and end clinician distribution of report distributiables, as well as direct to patient online result access.

The Pathagility team worked hard to support heroic lab teams that were working around the clock (weekends and holidays) to fight this pandemic and it continues today. This is a great example of Pathagility’s ability to help labs bring on new testing. The lab groups described above have made large investments in infrastructure, staff and equipment to support the large volumes of COVID-19 testing and are now transitioning to a wider range of PCR and other testing. Ask us about how we are helping labs bring on new PCR, NGS, and other clinical testing or being the consolidated hub to manage orders received in different formats from multiple partners and process different sample types collected across a disparate range of remote sites at different times of day. We will be happy to help you as well!