How it works
- Create a tracking code. In Track My Test, the lab creates a tracking code for a specimen.
- Give it to the patient. Hand it over as a link, a QR code or the code itself, whichever fits how you already talk to patients.
- The patient checks status. They open the link or scan the QR code, or type the code at trackmytest.com/track/. No account or app is needed.
- Status updates from your scans. As your team scans the specimen through your process, the page moves along. There's nothing extra to update.
- Turn it off when you want. The lab can turn a link off at any time.
Private by design
A patient tracker is only acceptable if one patient can't see another's information. Three things in the design work together for that:
- A separate random code. The link doesn't contain the accession number. It uses its own random code, so nobody can guess other patients' links by changing a digit.
- A masked accession number. Only the last four characters show, enough for the patient to recognize their specimen without the full number appearing on the page.
- Nothing sensitive to show. Track My Test stores specimen IDs only, never patient names, birth dates, addresses, insurance or results. The status page can't leak what was never stored.
We explain the thinking behind this on the External Software blog: specimen tracking without patient data.
Why give patients a status page at all?
Waiting for lab results is stressful, and much of that stress is not knowing whether anything is happening. Patients call the clinic, the clinic calls the lab, and someone looks up a specimen just to say "it's in progress". A status page answers that question directly, at any hour.
It also sets the right expectation. The page tells the patient their provider will contact them with results, which keeps results where they belong: with the person who ordered the test and can explain them. For patients wondering what's normal, we've written a plain guide to how long lab results take.
Who it suits
Independent clinical labs and clinic or physician office labs that send specimens out, veterinary labs whose clients ask about their animal's sample, and any lab where people call to ask whether a specimen has arrived. The status page is optional: create codes only for the specimens where it helps.
The timeline is built from the same scans as your turnaround times and chain of custody, so what the patient sees always matches your own record.