Allergen Testing Updates for Seattle Children’s

Seattle Children’s Chemistry Lab made two important updates to keep in mind related to allergen testing for patients:

• The Chemistry Lab has transitioned to a new test processing platform (Phadia).
• The lab made a policy change to limit the number of allergens/panel testing per patient order.

What has changed:

• In collaboration with Immunology, several allergen panels, including the food panel, are discontinued and replaced with individual allergen orders.
• Allergen orders are limited to 20 allergens or 2 panels per patient order/collection (previously there was no testing limit). This is consistent with current guidelines to focus the allergen workup based on symptoms and avoid large panels.
• The Seattle Children’s Laboratory “Allergen Testing Requisition” must be filled out by providers (no longer accepting LabCorp or other institutional requisitions).

These changes will improve allergen processing efficiency, support targeted, patient-specific testing and reduce unnecessary testing, which can save patients money and time.

For more details on how to refer patients, check out the Laboratory Services Refer a Patient webpage.

Questions?
Please contact: [email protected].