Lab & imaging results

Find new results in the Results inbox

When a lab or imaging order comes back, Hero EMR delivers the report to two places at once: a Results folder inside your Inbox, for triage and patient notification, and the patient’s chart (Labs and Imaging tabs), for longitudinal review. Reports file themselves — Quest lab results are checked automatically throughout the workday, Genova functional-medicine results arrive as PDF reports, and radiology reports flow in from your imaging vendor. Placing the orders these results come back from happens in the encounter — see Order medications, labs, imaging & more.

1. Open the Results folder. Click Inbox in the top tab bar, then Results in the left sidebar — its badge counts your unread results. The Lab Results row in the Home dashboard’s priority queues jumps straight here too (see Dashboard queues).
2. Scan the list. Each row shows the patient’s name, a summary built from the result (the abnormal analytes, or the study description), a relative time, and a severity pill. Unread entries are bold; opening one marks it read automatically. The list holds your 50 most recent results — anything older is on the patient’s chart.
3. Sort, search, and refresh. The action bar offers a sort dropdown (Most Recent, Unread First, Flagged First), a search popover (Subject, sender, body…), a refresh button (Refresh messages), and a history clock that toggles Show completed messages / Hide completed messages.

Review a lab report and trend the values

A lab result lives in two views: the Results inbox entry shows the full analyte report for the draw you’re reviewing, and the chart’s Labs tab puts the same analytes in a multi-date trend table so you can see where each value is heading.

1. Open the report. Click the entry in Inbox → Results. The header shows the summary title, completion date, and any Requisition: / Accession: identifiers, with an uppercase severity pill (NORMAL / ABNORMAL / CRITICAL).
2. Read the Test Results table. One row per analyte, with columns Test (the LOINC code sits under the name), Result, Unit, Reference Range, and Flag. Out-of-range rows are tinted and marked — an amber up arrow for high, a blue down arrow for low, and a red warning triangle for critical values — and a Critical values or Abnormal values chip banners the table when anything is flagged. An Additional Details section collapses the remaining metadata.
3. Open the original PDF when there is one. Labs that return a document (Genova results, for example) add a View PDF report button that opens the original in the document viewer.
4. Trend it from the chart. The chart’s Labs tab lists every lab order with Date / Test / Provider / Status columns (statuses: pending, in_progress, completed, cancelled). Use Sort by: Date, Test, or Status, and Filter by: All or By Me (orders you placed).
5. Use the trend preview. Click a row to open the split preview (double-click for full screen; Hide Preview / Show Preview collapses the pane). The preview is not a single report — each component is matched across all of the patient’s lab orders, giving one column per result date with the selected date highlighted. Rows show Ref Range & Units under the component name and red up/down triangles on out-of-range values, so a calcium drawn alone trends against the same analyte inside a CMP.

Review imaging studies and radiology reports

Imaging follows the same two-surface pattern: the chart’s Imaging tab tracks every study across its lifecycle, and when the radiologist’s final report comes back it also lands in your Results inbox as its own entry.

1. Scan the Imaging tab. Studies list with Date / Modality / Study / Provider / Status / Contrast / Actions columns, with Sort by: Date, Modality, or Status and Filter by: All or By Me. Contrast reads With Contrast, Without Contrast, or With & Without Contrast. The list loads as you scroll, ending with All imaging studies loaded.
2. Know the lifecycle. The Status pill walks each study through its life:
   pendingsubmittedscheduledimagedcompletedreviewedcanceledfailed
   Tracking outstanding orders and chasing studies that stall belongs to referral & order tracking.
3. Open the report. Click a study for the split preview (double-click for full screen). The report card splits the radiologist’s text into Technique:, Findings:, and Impression: sections (or a single Report: block), plus Accession Number:, Technical Details: from vendor metadata, and a Read by line naming the radiologist. Concerning studies are marked under the title with a warning icon — URGENT for critical flags or Abnormal Findings — and studies brought over from Epic carry an Imported from Epic badge.
4. Watch the Results inbox for finals. When the radiology vendor returns the final read, you get a Results entry with the study description, date, severity pill, an Indication section, and the full report text — triage it like any other result.

Acknowledge, flag, and complete results

The Results folder is a worklist, and each entry carries its own read, flag, and completion state. Opening an entry marks it read immediately and decrements the sidebar badge; everything else lives in the right-click context menu on a list entry, or the More (…) menu in the action bar.

After you reply to the patient from a result (next section), a green Response Sent confirmation with a timestamp appears under the compose box — your record that the result was communicated. Read, flag, and response states are stored per entry on the server, so they survive reloads and stay consistent across your devices.

Notify the patient of a result

Every result entry ends with a built-in compose panel, Your Response to Patient, so you can close the loop without leaving the report. Write the message yourself or start from an AI-drafted suggestion — either way, nothing goes out until you send it.

1. Write the message. Type into the compose box — Enter sends, Shift+Enter adds a line, and dot-phrases work here just like in other message boxes.
2. Or let AI draft it. The purple AI button opens the AI Suggested Responses modal. Leave the optional instruction field blank for two contrasting drafts, or steer it (Optional: Tell AI how to respond (e.g. 'reassure, schedule follow-up in 3 months')) for one tailored draft. Each card is labelled Recommended, Conservative, or Proactive, explains its rationale in italics, and may cite a Supporting Evidence list. Drafts are pre-generated when the result arrives, so the modal usually opens instantly.
3. Pick, edit, and send. Click a card to load it into the compose box — a Using AI Response #1 tag shows which draft you picked — then edit freely and click Send to Patient. The message goes out with subject RE: <result summary>, the entry is marked Response Sent with a timestamp, and any reply continues as a regular thread in the Patient folder.
4. Arrange follow-up care if needed. The Schedule button in the toolbar above the result opens the standard scheduling modal for that patient, so an abnormal result can become a booked visit on the spot.

What the patient already sees in the portal

Patients with records access see their own results in the portal’s Health Records screen: a Lab Results tab that expands each order into analyte values with normal/abnormal/critical coloring, and an Imaging tab (Imaging Studies) that shows study status and the radiology report text once it’s final. Your reply from the Results inbox arrives in the portal’s Messages as a normal secure thread. For the patient-side tour and how records access is granted, see Records in the portal.