Outsourced Tests

Some tests are sent to an external laboratory. Those tests are now handled inside the ordinary Lab Reports modal rather than in a separate screen, and their reports are folded into the patient's single combined report.

At a glance

fa-flask | Collected | The sample is taken from the patient.
fa-paper-plane | Sent to the external lab | The sample is couriered out.
fa-upload | Report uploaded | The external lab's report file is attached.
fa-check | Received | The test is marked as received back.
fa-file-text-o | Merged into the patient report | The file is added to the combined report.

One Report modal for everything

The separate Outsourced Lab Reports modal has been removed. The lab list now shows a single Report button, and opening it loads the whole bill — in-house and outsourced tests together.

Inside the modal:

• Outsourced tests carry an Outsourced badge.
• Sent and Received columns appear, but only on bills that actually contain an outsourced test, so ordinary bills are unchanged.
• Outsourced rows are never accessioned, and show no accession controls.

The Report button is visible to anyone holding either the lab report permission or manage_outsourced_lab_packages, so a coordinator who only handles outsourced work can still get in.

The outsourced sequence

The steps must happen in order. Each one unlocks the next:

1. Collect the sample.
2. Mark as sent — available once the sample has been collected.
3. Upload the report received from the external laboratory — available once the test has been marked sent.
4. Mark as received — available once a report file has been uploaded.

Reporting an outsourced test in-house

Sometimes the external laboratory does not deliver. An outsourced test can now be reported in-house instead, using the normal result entry and approval flow.

Because outsourced tests are never accessioned, only collection is required before results can be entered — requiring accession would make these tests permanently unreportable.

Confirm before you supersede

If an external report has already been uploaded, reporting the test in-house supersedes it in the patient's report. A confirmation dialog warns you first.

Nothing is deleted: the in-house report and the uploaded external file are stored separately, and the original file remains reachable under View report.

Outsourced files in the combined report

The patient's combined report is generated from the structured results your lab entered, so a file uploaded for an outsourced test cannot be typed into it. Instead, the uploaded file is appended to the generated report, producing one document that carries the in-house results and the external laboratory's report together.

• PDF files are appended as their own pages.
• Images (JPG, PNG, TIFF) are placed on a page of their own.
• A test that was reported in-house is rendered as a normal structured test, so its file is not also appended — that would print it twice.

This applies both to the report generated on approval and to the report printed or previewed from the worklist and the patient journey.

If a file cannot be fetched

If an attachment cannot be retrieved, the report is still produced with everything else intact — one unreachable file never costs you the in-house results, and never drops the other attachments.

When the report is compiled

A bill that mixes in-house and outsourced tests compiles its combined report once every test is either approved in-house or outsourced with a file uploaded.

note

Compilation is triggered by approval. If the outsourced file is uploaded after all the in-house tests were approved, the combined report is rebuilt at the next approval on that bill.

How outsourced tests appear in the worklist

Situation	Status
Ordered, nothing done yet	BILLED — deliberately kept out of Report Pending so the in-house worklist is not flooded with tests waiting on an external lab.
Results entered in-house, awaiting sign-off	APPROVAL_PENDING — it appears in the approval badge, the Approval Pending list and the move-to-next queue.
Reported in-house and approved	COMPLETED.
Sample rejected	REJECTION.