The Problem With Managing Multiple Laboratory Portals

For many Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) and Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs), managing drug testing sounds straightforward, until the day-to-day reality sets in. One client may prefer Quest Diagnostics. Another may use Labcorp. Another might need eScreen. Someone else may require Clinical Reference Laboratory (CRL). Before long, your team is logging into multiple laboratory portals every day just to keep business moving.

That can mean different usernames, different workflows, different collection-site networks, different ordering processes, different reports, and different ways to track results. What starts as “flexibility” can quickly turn into unnecessary administrative work.

The real problem is not having access to multiple laboratories. The problem is having to manage each laboratory separately.

Multiple Portals Mean Multiple Workflows

Every laboratory has its own system. Your employees have to learn where to place orders, how to search for collection sites, where to check status updates, how to retrieve results, and where to find specific information. Now multiply that by several laboratories.

Your team may spend a significant portion of the day switching from one portal to another. That may not sound like a major issue when you are processing a few tests. But when you are managing hundreds or thousands of orders, those extra steps add up.

The result can be:

• More administrative time
• More training
• More passwords to manage
• More opportunities for mistakes
• More duplicate data entry
• More complicated reporting
• More time spent answering routine questions
• Less time available for clients and business growth

For a growing TPA, portal management can quietly become a major operational problem.

1. Your Team Has to Learn Several Different Systems

Every new employee has to be trained. If your organization uses multiple laboratory portals, that training becomes more complicated. Instead of teaching one workflow, you may have to teach several.

Employees need to understand questions such as:

• Which laboratory should be used?
• Which login goes with that laboratory?
• How do you place the order?
• How do you locate the right collection site?
• Where do you find the result?
• How do you troubleshoot an issue?
• What happens if the client needs something changed?

The more systems your team has to understand, the more complicated onboarding becomes. That can also make it harder for employees to cover for one another. A centralized workflow makes training much easier because employees can learn one process instead of memorizing several.

2. Switching Between Portals Wastes Time

One of the biggest productivity problems is often not a major task. It is the constant switching.

An employee logs into one portal. Then another, and another, and another. They then begin a drawn out process searching for orders, returning to emails, checking different systems, and entering the same information all over again. Each switch may only take a few minutes. But those minutes add up throughout the day. Multiply them across every employee, every order, every client, and every laboratory, and the cost becomes much larger.

The goal should not be to make your employees faster at switching between portals. The goal should be to reduce the need to switch at all.

3. Duplicate Data Entry Creates Unnecessary Work

Managing several systems often means entering the same information multiple times. Your staff may enter donor information into your internal system and then enter it again into a laboratory portal. They may need to update another platform later when the test is complete.

Not only does this consume time, but every extra manual entry creates another opportunity for an error.

• A misspelled name.
• An incorrect ID number.
• The wrong test panel.
• The wrong collection location.
• The wrong client account.

Integrated systems can reduce unnecessary data entry by allowing information to flow more efficiently between platforms. Ideally, your team should enter information once, not repeatedly copy it from one system to another.

4. Finding Collection Sites Becomes More Complicated

Finding a collection site is not always as simple as searching for the closest location.

You also have to know:

• Which laboratory the location works with
• Whether it performs the requested test
• Whether the location is currently available
• Whether additional occupational health services are needed
• Whether another nearby location may be a better option

If your staff has to search several laboratory networks separately, scheduling can quickly become time-consuming.

That becomes especially frustrating when a customer simply wants an answer to one question:

“Where should I send my employee?”

The customer does not care how many portals your staff had to search. They just want a fast, accurate answer. A more centralized process helps your team respond faster while reducing administrative effort.

5. Reporting Becomes Fragmented

Your clients want information. They may need test statuses, results, activity reports, billing information, or program details. When everything is spread across multiple portals, employees may have to collect information from several sources before they can give the client a complete answer. That creates more work for your team and a less convenient experience for the customer. Centralized reporting can provide a clearer picture of activity across your business.

Instead of asking:

“Which portal is this test in?”

Your employees should be able to focus on:

“What does the client need?”

That is a much better use of their time.

6. Password Management Becomes a Problem

The more portals your company uses, the more accounts your employees may need. That creates another administrative challenge.

Employees may forget passwords, lose access, get locked out, or have difficulty determining which credentials belong to which system. When someone leaves the company, you may also have to manage access across multiple vendor systems. This may seem like a small operational issue, but it becomes another point of friction as your organization grows.

Reducing the number of systems employees need to access can simplify both daily operations and employee management.

7. Multiple Systems Can Make Customer Service Slower

When a client calls with a question, they want an answer.

They do not want to hear:

• “Let me log into another system.”
• “Give me a minute while I find that order.”
• “I need to check which laboratory this was sent through.”

Your customers judge your service based on how easy it is to work with your company. The more fragmented your internal systems are, the harder it can be for employees to provide quick answers. Your employees should have the information they need without searching through several unrelated platforms. Technology can make customer service easier.

8. It Makes Growth More Expensive

The biggest problem with manual portal management may appear when your business begins to grow. More clients mean more orders, more portal activity, and more administrative work. Eventually, you may feel like the only way to keep up is to hire more people.

That creates a dangerous growth cycle:

More clients = more manual work = more employees = more payroll.

But growth should not always require adding administrative staff at the same rate. If your systems can handle more volume efficiently, your existing employees may be able to support significantly more customers. This is one of the biggest reasons TPAs should think carefully about their technology infrastructure.

9. Your Clients Should Not Determine Your Workflow

Offering clients access to multiple laboratory options can be a major competitive advantage. But those options should not create chaos behind the scenes.

You should be able to work with different laboratories while maintaining a consistent internal process. That gives your customers flexibility without forcing your employees to manage completely different workflows for each account. Your clients get choices. Your team gets consistency.

That is how multi-lab access should work.

One Platform Can Change the Way Your Team Works

Imagine if your employees could manage testing activity across multiple major laboratories without constantly moving between separate portals.

• Instead of learning four different systems, they could work from a more centralized environment.
• Instead of repeatedly entering information, they could reduce unnecessary administrative steps.
• Instead of searching through several systems for updates, they could manage more of the process in one place.

That is the advantage of an integrated platform.

US Gateway is designed to help TPAs and CRAs manage drug testing across major laboratory networks while reducing the administrative burden that comes with separate laboratory portals. With access to major laboratories including Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp, eScreen, and CRL, US Gateway gives organizations the flexibility of a multi-lab strategy without forcing their teams to manage every laboratory as an entirely separate operation.

Multi-Lab Access Should Be an Advantage, Not a Burden

Having access to multiple laboratories is important.

• Different clients have different needs.
• Collection-site availability can vary by location.
• Pricing can vary.
• Testing requirements can vary.

Your business should have options. But options should not come at the expense of efficiency. The right technology can give your organization both:

Multiple laboratory choices and one streamlined workflow.

That means your employees can spend less time managing portals and more time doing the work that actually grows your company.

Stop Managing Portals. Start Managing Your Business.

Your team was not hired to spend the entire day logging into laboratory websites. They were hired to serve customers, solve problems, build relationships, support clients, and help grow your business. If your employees are constantly switching between systems just to complete routine testing tasks, the problem may not be your team. The problem may be your workflow.

US Gateway helps TPAs and CRAs bring critical drug testing processes together, reduce unnecessary administrative work, and create a more scalable operation. Because as your company grows, your technology should make your business easier to manage, not more complicated.

Ready to Simplify Your Laboratory Management?

Schedule a demonstration of US Gateway and see how your TPA or CRA can take advantage of multiple major laboratory networks while managing your operations through a more centralized, efficient platform.