Wouldn't it be nice to have a tab and or app created especially for specimen pickup?  This request is not from a disgruntled employee who is asking for diaper service(we didn't do disposables in my day and  green diapers were unheard of or the ambiguous term was yet to be defined-people were so cool with colors); although I had fun helping out once they finally became the norm. In medical offices you have your different labs that process blood, urine, and other cultures and samples. These laboratories are not located in the actual physicians office and specimens therefore require transport of them to the labs that do this type of work in performing tests that indicate results of one thing or another. One may say well if the physician works out of a buliding and not his or her home then surely the driver for each lab will frequent the facility or building for general pickup so any such specimen will be included in the pickup if left when designated, which is most likely in a specimen room and in the appropriate specimen box.  This is not always true. There are many medical buildings that house or are the home of offices that do a lot of physical therapy and other types of corrective measures and do not use the same labs that a physician may use for their specimens.  There are times that a driver may come to a building or facility just to find that there are no specimens to be picked up. This does not mean that the physician did not put in a good days work. It simply means that either there were no specimens to go out, CLIA tests sometimes account for this or the problems and complaints from the patients did not necessarily result in lab tests being done on that visit. Since insurance companies dictate what lab you use unless you want to pay more money; which may mean, that days worth of work and the specimens all went to one lab and the driver from the other lab came to that facility for nothing.  Companies are in a bind and are always looking to reduce money they have to pay for services that are not being utilized or needed.  So companies cut back and when they do, that service you had, that was as reliable as the diaper kind is no longer there. 

Is this a conspiracy to cause physicians to create inner labs within their offices with the use of compliant CLIA products and equipment so that the test results are instant as opposed to waiting a day or two or maybe even three especially over the weekend or holiday?  Have these labs somewhat partnered with those that manufacture CLIA based tests in order to develop various testing applications and instrumentation to be used in physician offices so that these specimen labs can be freed from easier and "routine" testing ie. pt/inr and cholesterol? If this is done will the labs can concentrate on the testing and experimentation of more, newer and baffeling diseases and illnesses to produce an accurate testing mechanism and turnaround time for such tests?  When the labs are overworked along with their employees and the demand of testing for newer kinds of things with regards to strains of diseases and viruses; it has become apparent that such labs be used more in this capacity as opposed to waiting for doctors from France, Germany, Italy or Spain to give a call at the end of the day to research centers here in the US to inform them that they have diagnosed an illness, given it a name, and found a way to remedy it; while the US was just waiting for some grant monies and federal funding to get state of the art labs that are much needed up and running.

Can the US succeed in something besides our differences and without giving the credit to people overseas?  Will doctors be able to now perform the myriad of tests that are CLIA based and be able to afford the equipment in their offices; and also be compensated enough to continue to do such testing? These Medicare cutbacks, are really just a suggestion to implement physician stipends in order for doctors to remain in practice beyond the EHR incentives timeline.

It may be time for other approaches to problems that continue to not only persist but develop. The versatility of the worker is a must although each person is human, it seems as though in order to do this a divine capacity is needed.  Depends probably don't stay on the shelf for long. The divine worker is human and should not need them for many years to come.  Let's not create such a situation.  Time is precious and so are our bodies and minds.  Can such specimen testing labs create a tab that will enable the office worker to request a specimen pickup and as such provide a confirmation number after the message is sent?  Sure, the phones are great when you have the time to use them, you know the waiting among the other things that need to be done. This way, once specimens are entered or processed into the labs system a request for pickup can be done literally at the same time.  Let's depend on the US. My budget and time is tight enough and those things are probably costly!