ugh. I have always elected to get blood work done at my local hospital as It's been easier and cheaper for me to do so, and there's never been the slightest problem with that. This is sounding fishy. Why should your Dr care?? Boo. There are strict anti kick back laws that might be an issue here if she continues to insist.

Sounds like the doc is getting some sort of compensation for sending patients to the McLab or is ignorant of how efficient the local hospital is.

Getting a kickback would violate multiple federal laws. Just guessing here but to me it seems more likely that the doctor has more seamless access to this lab’s results. I recently had to have a lab send results to my cardiologist and it took several phone calls to achieve. Regardless, I’d ask for the prescription in hand, go where you’d like but be prepared to facilitate the forwarding of results if needed.

bummer, I get by blood taken at the same clinic that my PCP practices at. Just have to walk down the hall. I think they may send the blood out to a lab to get the results but I get the results in the mail within a week and I imagine my PCP gets the results in a few days. Same deal with my RA doctor

Your new PCP may be in a healthcare group that is affiliated with the lab they want you to use.

Same here. I start getting notifications within hours, as each test comes back. By the time my doctor calls a couple days later I say ”yesh I know.”

I had no idea there were chain labs? I get all my bloodwork done in my PCP's office.

“Same here. I start getting notifications within hours, as each test comes back. By the time my doctor calls a couple days later I say ”yesh I know.”

That’s how it works here.

Lab one is a pretty big lab chain around these parts but I've only had to go there for pre-surgery blood tests and they are usually in the same building as the surgeon's office.

Quest Diagnostics is a huge one thar’s national.

Medical labs are simple operations. Drawing blood is an easy task and a wide range of outcomes are ultimately tolerated and usable. Still, lazy or inattentive phlebotomists can still manage to scr*w up one way or another. Convenience, ease of setting up an appointment or otherwise getting it done, should be important considerations.

In addition to the labs available at locations of the very large medial group practices and hospitals that seem to be everywhere these days, there are the large lab companies like Quest and Labcorp that perhaps OP is referring to.

I've used one specific location of one of these for a long time. It's clean and also pretty busy but never uncomfortably so. Making an appointment is easy to do online, it takes just a few minutes. People with appointments are taken before walk-ins, there's rarely more than a few minutes wait.

The guy working there has been there forever. He's friendly, quick and GOOD - the wound rarely bleeds and under the small bandage is often no mark or scab to show the entry point.

Different labs are like different major brand gas stations. They do the same thing the same way, the cost is mostly the same, and what it boils down to is personal preferences about the experience they offer. This McLab has results the morning of the next day (but for a few that take longer). They're sent to my doc electronically and I get an email that I can see the results online on the lab's site. Also on the site of my doc, and she'll usually add her comments to what's there by the end of that day.

Convenient location, competent guy running it, minimal time required. It offers everything I need with no hassle.

For me, the affiliation a lab does or doesn't have matters little.

I've been going to the same lab for years and years. I never need to make an appointment. Once doctor orders the tests, the order is received by the McLab electronically I can walk in at my convenience anytime during their business hours. Same person has been the head of the operation for years. Very little turnover of staff. Even when it gets busy I am in and out in less than 20 minutes. Same with radiology. I can often walk in for a CT scan the day the test is ordered. MRI requires and appointment but I can get in within a few days. All these labs in our area have made the process quick and seamless.

And if you don't? Go to the lab you always have. Have them share their finds. Done.

Easier said than done if she doesn’t have a physical prescription in hand.

Thanks for your feedback. I told the secretary (PCP not in today) and also wrote a note to the PCP politely and firmly stating where I would go, where I did not want to go and why. Within an hour or so the office phoned and said PCP will send orders to the lab of my choice. Simple routine lab work. The local hospital lab is clean, organized, perfectly capable.

I could go now, but IIRC, it is best if I am fasting 24 hrs.

It's good you called and got your lab of choice. I go to my GP every six months, and one week before the visit, I go to the office, and blood is taken for him to review the tests he ordered. Sometimes I get the results later in the afternoon and can review them on my portal. It's very convenient because the office is 3/4 of a mile away. I already have both appointments for the first week in January scheduled.

petalique, pre-test fasting that's required for some of the standard blood tests involves no more than 8-12 hours without food before the test. The normal advice is to have dinner before 8 pm and then limit intake to water after that. As much as you want and be sure to drink in the evening and in the morning too. Dehydration thickens the blood and limits the flow when a draw is attempted.

Maybe the same as lily describes, my doc puts in the test order for the next time, during each periodic visit. It's all electronic, no paper involved. She asks if I want to go to XXX again the next time, I say yes, and I think she checks a box and it's transmitted electronically. I don't schedule a lab appointment until a few days before - because they're easily available, I don't know months in advance what day out in the future would be most convenient. Doctor appointment is different, not always available same day or next day, unless there's some urgency.

I like my multi-location lab company because the test order can be done from any of its locations. I once overstayed a planned visit to another area some days in advance of a doctor appointment. It would have been silly to go home sooner than desired simply to have a lab visit. The lab company had locations where I was and I simply had the draw done there. I guess I could have contacted the doc's office to send it somewhere else in the area I was located but using one of the large lab companies made that unnecessary.

Doctors here just give you a script and you take it wherever you want. Pathology services are all chains here, even the ones based in hospitals, and no appointments are necessary, you just walk in and take a number.

When I first started on my cancer journey, I went to the pathology lab in the hospital across the street from my haematologist, who were very disorganised IMO. I found out how disorganised when I had a call from the haematologist two weeks later to say that he had no results from them for me as they had not labelled my samples. I was livid. DH recommended the lab he goes to that is close to his work and I would go there. They are excellent, painless and always labelled everything before they started taking blood, and would show me the labels. I have also used the service at the local hospital and found them equally good, and painless to boot :-)

Every year I have to have my thyroid checked. I call the lab and make an appointment for the blood draw. They have never asked if I have a "perscription" i.e. if I have a doctor's orders. They call the doctor and get it if needed. I prefer to have my blood work done and in the doctors hand before I have the physical they force on me. It doesn't make sense to have her oder it after particularly when it's the only ISSUE I have and why I go at all! I have messed up and not gotten the more thurough testing due to my not having fasted. This comes up every few years or so... The doctor has learned to ammed the order and send me a note now when I make an appointment. This is not a problem people. You do get to be in charge of who you see. At least for now. It will change once socialized medicine takes over during future regimes.

Yes, I would be surprised if they ask for a "perscription." You will however need a prescription if you want insurance to cover it.

😄

(Sorry. It was too easy and I couldn't resist...)

I am SO very thankful that my cousin (like a sister to me) was a recipient of her medical care in France. Survived cancer twice! The radiation on the esophagus narrowed it, requiring a procedure to enlarge it. She’ll have another procedure in August to enlarge it a bit more, so she can eat normally again.

Her care was exemplary, and she never had to worry about going broke. (As if cancer isn’t enough)

food is right about laws against kickbacks (false claims act comes to mind), so that's not it. I like the suggestion it's just easier for your doctor to do it this way. How? I can't say, but again, food has a good thought. Seamless is always best.

" You do get to be in charge of who you see. At least for now. It will change once socialized medicine takes over during future regimes"

The terminology you used, that I've bolded, is used only in the current political scene and doesn't suggest you have a good understanding of the topic. Ironically, arcy, colleenoz lives in Australia where there is universal coverage for all. It's administered by a governmental agency. I'm sure the care she's describing falls under that system, which (also ironically) is called Australian Medicare.

I suppose we have the for profit labs. My Oncology center has its own lab and processing so I go an hour early to get the blood drawn and it will be processed at the same time. Occasionally there is some unusual test that must be sent out and that is done locally but I have no idea where. The hospital has two labs in different centers in town and the one at the main hospital is less efficient. DH prefers the other one but both can process your blood within a very short period but he likes to do it ahead of an appointment as it is always fasting. Bad Phlebotomists dont last around here. They all need orders from the doctor but it is by computer. My PCP usually will add on to my latest oncology draw for efficiencies sake.

" I suppose we have the for profit labs. "

Don't be lulled into the misunderstanding that a hospital or other care provider that's exempt from income tax doesn't operate in a "for profit" manner.

Same is true for most "non-profits". Entities and operations that aren't managed to maximize the bottom line (excess of receipts over expenses), or at least having a positive number rather than a negative one, don't stay around very long.

I also think the chances of "socialized medicine" being expanded in the US seem pretty low for as far as the eye can see right now. So hopefully that allows this board's resident of Perpetual Sunshine to sleep better for now. She'll have plenty of advance warning if she feels the need to freak out over it in the future.

I guess she's too young for Medicare.

I've lived in several countries with " socialized" medicine. I've always had a choice about who I see and where I go. And the good things is, I only have to check with my doctor and not with an insurance company to get the care I need.

Here in Oz the doctor gives me a prescription for blood tests, scans, etc. I take them wherever I want. For blood tests, one of the commercial testing companies has a branch in my GPs clinic. No appointment necessary. And no fees: it's covered by Medicare.

My blood/lab is pulled at my PCP's office, a week or two before the follow-up appointment. Twice yearly. They send the draw to an outside lab for processing, which bills me directly for any balance due after insurance is settled. The PCP gives me a printed copy of the results but I can access the results online at the lab's website within a few days of the draw, before the follow-up appt. The PCP is in the next town over but is associated with the hospital/clinic system here. He over there and the ER here are in my ins network, the hospital and clinic here are not. Arrangements/negotiations between insurance and providers are crazy.

" No appointment necessary. And no fees: "

jmm, this is true for many people here who have some form of medical insurance. And for seniors (most of them) with federal Medicare coverage.

Appointments are not required at the lab I go to. People are free to walk in. It's then first come, first served. Those who have made an appointment (which takes just a moment to do a day or two in advance, and sometimes same day for later times) are called in no later than and usually earlier than the time of the prearranged appointment.

Elmer - I am aware of that. I was talking about the Australian system.

Maybe I misunderstood the underlying tone of your comment, always a risk with just written exchanges. It seemed as if you were contrasting the experiences shared by US people with how it works where you are. In fact, from a patient's perspective, it's about the same in both places.

There may be some people who because of their location, coverage or choice of group affiliation may be required to go to labs with a particular affiliation. But for many, especially those with Medicare coverage and also folks not in a closed provider system like Kaiser-Permanente, I believe most can choose where they wish to go without restrictions.

If the patient's experience were the same in both places, the OP wouldn't have been written.

Same in both places - Australia and US.

I was referring to the specifics in your comment, not the OP's. My response that you misunderstood was clear that the ability here to choose any lab can be limited by certain circumstances I mentioned but usually isn't.

@arcy_gw, with our socialised medicine system here we can choose whatever medical practitioner we want. The only time a patient is restricted to a particular practitioner is when a no fee specialist is required; then the choices are limited to specialists who take on Medicare patients. But this is the same with American health insurance as well, and even then the insurer can refuse to pay. Here, if a patient wants to choose any specialist, Medicare still remits their usual payment to the specialist and the patient pays the rest of the fee. If the patient has additional private health insurance, they may end up paying nothing.

I was able to zip in and zip out of the regular lab. Fast.

Great news, petalique!

Getting blood work done should never be an issue anywhere.

I’ve always been able to get lab tests, blood work done quickly. Drop-in or with an appointment, no problem. Results are sent within 24 to 48 hours and my doctor contacts me shortly after.

Get out of here, all of you with your facts and happiness! 😄 We don't need no stinking facts here any more, we prefer to make up our own reality....🤣🙁

Petalique, glad everything went smoothly.

DH offered to drive me around and buy me lunch later.

The little lab is a satellite. Only one lab tech running the show. She’s great. I didn’t feel a thing. DH could have almost driven up to the sign in desk. [Now there’s an idea — a drive up window. Stay in your car (on on your motorbike). Give your name and dob. Hold out your bare arm. Bada Bing!

Blood draws require a bit more time and arm stability than injections but your drive up comment reminded me of how the first mass public programs for inoculations during the pandemic were handled. Large parking lots (sometimes at sports venues) with drive up lanes, health care workers in hazmat suits. Paperwork done in advance before reaching the injection spot, drive up, get your jab, drive away. Very efficient.

In the Army, large scale inoculations were done using high pressure air devices called jet injectors. Got that a few times in boot camp. The troops were lined up, shirts removed and t-shirt sleeves rolled up, marched into a building. You got to a station where there was one medic to your left and one to your right. Stand still, look forward, quick alcohol wipes then you got an air propelled injection on the left and one on the right. Keep moving, make way for the next man.

There was no need to change or clean the injection gizmos between individuals because the injections were accomplished with air under pressure, no needles. It was fast, I bet each station could do 6 people a minute.

Yes, it did hurt more than a needle jab.