Ohio

Results Reporting

In Ohio, the newborn screening (NBS) program has a central location for laboratory and follow-up processes. This provides an opportunity for some laboratory staff to be trained in follow-up protocols so that they can call out preliminary and confirmatory results to physicians on Saturdays when the follow-up team does not work. Unlike the laboratory staff, where there is a Monday-Friday and Tuesday-Saturday shift, Ohio NBS decided not to have two separate shifts for follow-up. Physician offices are closed on weekends, therefore it is not necessary to have a full Saturday shift where follow-up staff could only complete a portion of their work. Since the majority of follow-up’s time is dedicated to interacting and closing cases with physicians, it was more efficient to cross-train lab staff to call-out results instead of paying for an additional follow-up Saturday shift. Since the Saturday lab staff does not work on Mondays with follow-up, Ohio NBS implemented a communication system where all case information is securely emailed to the entire staff to ensure everyone is aware of next steps. This way, follow-up staff can conduct a secondary outreach to physicians on Monday.

IT and Vendor Support

Over the past couple of years, Ohio’s laboratory IT vendor has become more limited in their after-hours support and future Saturday support will only be covered for an additional fee. At this stage, Ohio NBS is reviewing the need for weekend support in light of new vendor fees since the laboratory has duplicate instrumentation. If one instrument breaks down on Saturday testing can be completed on a different machine until Monday maintenance is performed. However, other states may want to consider writing in after-hour support into their vendor contract if they do not have the option to procure additional instruments.
Although Ohio NBS IT is not on-site on Saturdays, they are very responsive and can offer support remotely.