Lab Portal Guide
Register your lab, manage bookings and referrals, and connect to your LIS.
Getting started
How does a lab register on ELMED?
Register at elmed.healthcare/register with the lab technician role. Once registered, go to Provider Setup and fill in your lab details including your SANAS accreditation number. The ELMED admin team will review and approve your account, then you will get an email with a link to your portal.
How do I log in?
Go to elmed.healthcare/login and sign in with your registered email and password. Your lab dashboard will load automatically.
What can I do from the dashboard?
The dashboard shows your daily stats: bookings pending, today's appointments, samples in processing, and completed results. Today's booked appointments are listed with patient names at a glance.
Managing bookings
Where do bookings come from?
Bookings come from patients who book directly through the ELMED patient app or web portal. You can also add walk-in or phone-in bookings yourself from the Walk-in page, which creates a booking without the patient needing to use the app.
How do I register a walk-in patient?
Go to Walk-in in the sidebar. Enter the patient's first name, last name, and email address. If they are not already on ELMED, an account is created for them automatically so they can view their results later. Add the tests requested, appointment date, and price, then click Create Booking.
How do I update a booking's status?
Open the booking from Bookings and either use the quick status dropdown on the list, or click View full detail to open the booking detail page with the full status selector. Status steps: Booked → Sample Collected → Processing → Result Ready → Delivered.
How do I upload a result file?
Open the booking detail page and use the Upload Result File field to attach a PDF or image. When you save, the booking status moves to Result Ready and the patient and any referring doctor are notified by email.
Can I submit a medical aid claim for a booking?
Yes. From the booking detail page, use the Medical Aid Claim panel to enter the amount and tariff codes, then click Submit Claim. This sends the claim to the patient's scheme directly through ELMED.
Doctor referrals
Where do referrals come from?
When a doctor on ELMED orders lab tests for a patient, a referral appears in your Referrals list. Each referral includes the patient name, ordered tests, the referring doctor, any clinical notes, and a fasting flag if applicable.
How do I work through a referral?
Open the referral from the Referrals list. You will see a checklist of each test ordered. As you collect and process each sample, tick it off. Enter the result value, unit (e.g. mmol/L), normal range, and flag it as Normal or Abnormal. Once all tests are ticked and results entered, click Mark All Complete.
How do I enter structured results per test?
Each test on the referral checklist has result entry fields below it: result value, unit, normal range, and a normal/abnormal selector. Fill these in and click Save. The referring doctor can see the structured results alongside the overall referral status.
What if a result is critically abnormal?
Use the Flag Critical Result button at the bottom of the referral. Enter the test name, the critical value, and the normal range. This sends an immediate priority alert to the ordering doctor, separate from the normal result upload flow.
Can I download the referral as a PDF?
Yes. On any referral detail page, there is a Download PDF link that generates a formatted referral document with patient info, test list, and doctor details.
Test catalogue
What is the test catalogue?
The test catalogue is where you manage which tests your lab offers. ELMED maintains a global list of tests across all major categories. Go to Catalogue in the sidebar, find any test, and click Add to offer it. Tests you offer are highlighted and visible to doctors when they order.
Can I set my own pricing per test?
Yes. Next to each test in the catalogue is a price field. Enter your price in rands and click Save. You can also set a turnaround time in days so doctors and patients know what to expect.
What are the lab-specific codes on each test?
Each test in the global catalogue includes billing codes for Pathcare, Lancet, and Ampath where available. These appear on the referral checklist and PDF to help your admin team process billing correctly.
Analytics
What does the Analytics page show?
The Analytics page gives you a summary of your lab's activity: total bookings, total and completed revenue, average turnaround time, volume by status, your top requested tests, a 30-day booking volume chart, and a breakdown of referral statuses.
Webhooks and LIS integration
Can ELMED push events to our LIS automatically?
Yes. Go to Webhooks in the sidebar. Add your LIS or internal system endpoint URL, select which events to subscribe to (e.g. referral.created, consultation.completed), and ELMED will POST a signed JSON payload to your system each time that event occurs. No polling needed.
How do I verify the payload is from ELMED?
Every webhook request includes an X-ELMED-Signature header containing an HMAC-SHA256 signature computed with your subscription secret. See the webhook documentation for verification examples in Python, Node.js, and PHP.
What happens if our endpoint is down?
ELMED retries failed deliveries automatically: once immediately, once after 30 seconds, and once more after 5 minutes. You can see the full delivery log including HTTP status codes and errors from the View log link next to each webhook endpoint.