Managing Unmatched Lab and Imaging Results

Important: Always select the correct patient when assigning an unmatched lab or imaging result. Assigning a result to the wrong patient may allow them to view another patient’s PHI.

Before you click Save, review all pages of the attached document to confirm they belong to the selected patient. Some lab and imaging providers include results for multiple patients in a single PDF, and assigning the entire document without verification can result in a HIPAA violation.

Saving is what shares the result: the patient gets an email that their results are available, the result appears in their SigmaMD Patient App with the values the lab sent, and the PDFs are saved to their Files. Only the Note to Patient waits until the result is reviewed. Changing the patient afterwards moves the result, but it can't unsend that email.

An Unmatched Lab or Imaging Result occurs when SigmaMD receives a diagnostic result with a requisition number that does not match any existing order in the system. When this happens, the system cannot automatically assign the result to a patient, and manual assignment is required.

Why Do Unmatched Results Occur?

Unmatched results typically happen when:

The diagnostic provider sends a result with a requisition number that does not exist in SigmaMD.
There is a mismatch between the provider's requisition number and the system’s records.
The diagnostic order was not created in SigmaMD, so the requisition number is unrecognized.

How to Locate and Assign an Unmatched Result

Step 1: View Results Pending Review

Navigate to the Home Screen in SigmaMD.
Locate the Lab results to review and Imaging results to review cards.
Each card shows a notification badge with the number of results awaiting review.
Click the expand icon on each card to open the list of pending results.

Home screen cards Lab results to review (3) and Imaging results to review (2), each with an expand icon

Step 2: Open the Diagnostic Result

A side panel will open displaying results requiring review.
Hover over a result to reveal the View result button.
Click View result to open and review the result details.

Review Lab Results side sheet: filter icon, Pending 3 / Recently reviewed 13 toggle, archived results icon, three pending results with the View result tooltip on the hovered Tracey Jacobi row

Step 3: Assign the Result to a Patient

In the list, an unmatched result shows the patient name the lab sent, or Unknown Patient when the lab sent none. Inside the result, the Unknown Patient section asks you to find the patient.
Review the attached result PDF to identify the patient.
Use the Search patient field to locate and select the correct patient, then click Save to assign the result. For a result opened from Archived results, the button is Save and unarchive.
If you assign a result to the wrong patient, use Edit patient (pencil icon) next to the patient's name before marking it as reviewed to choose the correct patient, or remove the patient to send the result back to the unassigned results.
If the result belongs to none of your patients, click Archive result instead and add an optional reason. This option is available only while no patient is assigned.

Unknown Patient section of the result dialog with Tracey Jacobi selected in Search patient and the Save button enabled

(Optional) Add a Note to Patient which will appear with the result in the SigmaMD Patient App once you mark the result as reviewed. The patient will be notified of the note at that point by email and push notification, or by text message if they have no email address on file.

Click Mark as reviewed to complete the review. Mark as reviewed and Note to Patient become available once a patient is saved to the result.

All lab and imaging result PDFs are stored in the patient's Files section under the Labs and Imaging folders, respectively.