Is Your NextGen Lab Testing Workflow Ready for High Volume?

High-Volume Testing Can Overwhelm Standard Lab Workflows

Running a high-volume lab testing program in NextGen EHR can turn into a repetitive grind fast. Staff open each patient chart individually just to place a routine order, entering a similar diagnosis, source, testing site, and lab vendor again and again. Results from rapid or non-interfaced tests still need to be entered by hand, and requisitions or chart documents often require separate steps outside the order itself.

That repetition does more than slow the clinic down. It raises the chance of missing a required field or documenting a result inconsistently. A process that works fine for occasional testing usually breaks down once applied to a high-volume testing program, whether that is flu season screening, HIV testing, PT/INR monitoring, or an ongoing STI testing clinic. This is exactly the kind of friction TempDev works to remove: repetitive, manual NextGen EHR lab testing that pulls staff away from patient care.

What Is the NextGen Lab Testing Template Suite?

The NextGen Lab Testing Template Suite is a configurable NextGen EHR template solution built to standardize ordering, documentation, and result entry across a high volume of patients. Instead of reworking each chart individually, staff place orders through one streamlined NextGen lab order template, with standard order information populated automatically. The suite generates lab requisitions, captures required Ask at Order Entry (AOE) questions, and saves rapid and manually received results through a streamlined NextGen lab results template. It works directly with the NextGen Orders Module and supports both interfaced and non-interfaced workflows, so organizations are not locked into a single vendor connection.

The suite originated as a solution for high-volume COVID-19 testing clinics, when practices needed a faster way to place orders and record results without opening a chart for every patient. TempDev has since expanded that into a broader NextGen lab testing template suite, configurable around an organization's current lab needs, vendors, and locations.

What Types of Testing Can the Suite Support?

TempDev configures the suite around the specific testing program an organization runs, not a fixed list of test types. Common use cases include PT/INR monitoring, flu, COVID-19, HIV, and other STI testing. These examples are not a ceiling; the workflow, questions, and result options are configured around what the organization actually tests.

When Does an Organization Need a Lab Testing Template Suite?

A few signs tend to show up together: staff process a large volume of the same tests, employees keep opening individual charts for standard in-office orders, and some locations follow different steps than others or rely on more than one laboratory vendor. Rapid results need to be documented right away, and staff enter the same order details repeatedly.

Requisitions and chart documents get created by hand, required questions occasionally get missed, and testing volume causes delays or documentation errors. Whether an organization is standing up a new testing clinic or has outgrown its current process, a high-volume lab testing workflow built for occasional orders will not scale on its own. TempDev configures its NextGen lab order template for ongoing programs and shorter periods of increased demand alike.

How the Lab Testing Template Suite Supports the Full Workflow

Configure Standard Testing Details

Configuration is where most of the time savings start. TempDev sets up the suite around an organization's locations, vendors, tests, and documentation requirements, establishing available test types, default lab vendors, diagnosis codes, testing sites, and standard result options in advance. Once configured, staff are no longer searching for or reentering the same details for every patient.

Place Orders With Fewer Clicks

With a NextGen lab order template in place, staff search for and select the patient, choose the test or workflow, and let standard order information populate automatically. The order goes into the NextGen Orders Module and over a lab interface when applicable. It will also generate a lab requisition for an outside vendor. TempDev's innovative template let users place multiple testing orders with only a few clicks per patient, rather than navigating through individual charts.

Support Multiple Labs and Testing Methods

Organizations do not have to force every testing workflow through the same vendor or connection type. The suite accommodates in-house testing, external vendors, interfaced orders and results, and non-interfaced workflows side by side, so rapid tests, manually received results, and different vendors by location can all run through the same NextGen EHR lab testing setup.

Record Results Quickly and Consistently

Result entry follows the same logic. Staff search for the patient without reopening the full chart workflow, select from configured result options, and enter manually received or rapid results directly. Each result saves to the patient chart and generates consistent documentation, reducing reliance on non-standard workflows. This NextGen lab results template keeps terminology consistent across staff and locations while making documentation faster.

Generate Supporting Documentation Automatically

Automation closes the loop administratively. The suite creates lab requisitions, generates chart visit documentation, and saves summaries directly to the patient chart, capturing required questionnaires along the way. That keeps order and result documentation connected to the patient record, instead of scattered across documents recreated by hand.

Why Standardization Matters in High-Volume Lab Testing

Using the same process across patients, staff, locations, and test types has a compounding effect. Order details get captured consistently, staff follow a repeatable process, and results are documented in standard terminology instead of free text. Records are easier for other staff to review, and training gets simpler because there is one process to teach.

CMS notes that the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments program exists to help ensure laboratory test results are accurate, reliable, and timely. A structured NextGen lab testing template does not create regulatory compliance on its own, but consistent ordering and documentation support a more controlled testing workflow.

Keep Interfaced and Non-Interfaced Testing in One Clear Process

Most organizations run some combination of automated and manual lab workflows at once. Some vendors exchange orders and results electronically, rapid tests get completed and documented in-clinic, and other results still arrive by fax or paper for manual entry. Staff need one consistent way to identify, record, and save each result, not a separate, disconnected documentation process for manual workflows.

Research funded by AHRQ points to workflow standardization, better electronic communication between clinics and labs, and dedicated follow-up responsibility as key factors in getting lab results reviewed on time. A high-volume lab testing workflow that treats interfaced and non-interfaced results the same way makes that follow-up far easier to manage.

How the Lab Testing Template Suite Helps Work Flow Better

The suite ties directly back to TempDev's broader goal of making healthcare work flow better. It reduces the need to open individual charts repeatedly, minimizes repetitive data entry, and standardizes ordering and result documentation across test types and vendors. It connects interfaced and manual testing workflows instead of running them separately. The goal is not simply processing tests faster. It is building a NextGen lab testing template suite, complete with its own lab order template and NextGen lab results template, that stays consistent as volume grows.

How TempDev Uncomplicates High-Volume Lab Testing in NextGen

TempDev brings hands-on knowledge of NextGen EHR and the NextGen Orders Module to every lab testing template project: configurable support for different test types, vendors, and locations; support for interfaced and non-interfaced testing; and built-in Ask at Order Entry questions. TempDev handles workflow review, configuration, testing, implementation, and training, so the suite reflects how an organization actually performs NextGen EHR lab testing today.

Process More Lab Tests With Less Repetitive Work

High-volume testing requires a workflow that can manage orders, vendors, required questions, documentation, and results without pushing staff through the same manual steps for every patient. TempDev's NextGen Lab Testing Template Suite was built to handle exactly that, standardizing a high-volume lab testing workflow so it holds up as volume grows.

If your organization is ready to simplify ordering and result entry in NextGen, contact Team TempDev to configure the Lab Testing Template Suite for your environment.