Nashville residents who were tested for the coronavirus more than once at city-run testing centers have struggled to access results due to a little-known glitch that undermined laboratory web portals for more than two months and continues today.
The issue predominantly affects people who tested negative, leaving them waiting for online results that never appear. It could also delay results for an infected person by up to a day, lengthening the window during which they might unknowingly spread the virus.
The problem is limited to people who were tested at the city sites before June 26 and then again after that date and who used the same username — often an email address — to get results through web portals for both tests, according to city officials. Under these circumstances, people do not receive online results from the second test as intended.
The simplest way to avoid the glitch is to create a unique username when signing up to receive results for any coronavirus test at a city-run test site.
Dr. Gill Wright III, associate medical director of the Metro Public Health Department, confirmed the web portal problem hasn't been resolved. Although it is unclear how many people have been affected, the issue led to a noticeable rise in calls to the city’s results phone line, which can be used to circumvent the web portal issues, Wright said.
The web portal issues generally don't hide the results of residents who test positive because those results are still sent to Metro Health contact tracers, who then call the infected person within a day, Wright said. However, if the results are negative, the resident may be left out of the loop.
“Unfortunately, the vendor has not done anything to help with this,” Wright said.
Lab swab complicates web portals
The web portal glitch is an inadvertent result of Nashville officials’ decision to replace the laboratory company that processes samples from testing sites at Nissan Stadium, Meharry Medical College and on Nolensville Pike. The city originally sent test samples to American Esoteric Laboratories, or AEL, then removed the company on June 26 due to lengthening turnaround times. Nashville switched to another laboratory company, PathGroup, which has since produced results approximately two days faster, according to test data obtained from the city through a public records request.
CORONAVIRUS: They got tested. And then they waited. And waited. And waited.
AEL and PathGroup provide test results to the public through nearly identical websites designed by a third company, Luminate Health, which maintains the test results in a siloed database that exists behind the public-facing web portals.
Luminate CEO Sidd Sinha said his company is prohibited from combining the data from multiple labs into a single patient account “due to privacy restrictions” and “differences in testing instrumentation.” Since Luminate can’t combine results from multiple labs, patients must make unique accounts to access the results from each lab, Sinha said.
Sinha insisted the web portals are working as intended and the problem is the result of public confusion about how to use them. Luminate is working with PathGroup to individually assist the "very small number" of people who are affected, he said.
"There is no flaw that is occurring behind the scenes. This is the way the system has been designed," Sinha said. "And so, again, it does require unique user names ... but improving the communication will go a long way."
'Tests don't mean anything without results'
Although Nashville residents must make a unique username to get PathGroup test results online, this is never explicitly explained.
People who are tested at the city's assessment centers are given paperwork directing them to PathGroup's web portal, but the documents make no mention of a need for a unique username for those who were previously tested. And, if you follow the instructions provided on the web portal, they will lead you straight into the glitch.
As of Wednesday, both AEL and PathGroup's web portals recommend patients use their email address as a username, but neither site makes it clear you can't use the same username for both. PathGroup's portal doesn't tell Nashville residents they need a new account with a unique username if they were previously tested by AEL.
A Tennessean reporter who this week signed up for both AEL and PathGroup web portals with the same username did not receive any warning that overlapping accounts would prevent access to future test results.
This is exactly what happened to Trisha Ping, who has been tested for the coronavirus five times.
Ping, 40, of Nashville, said she was tested twice before June 26 and got results from the AEL web portal without incident on both occasions. Ping was tested again on July 13 — after the city swapped labs — then logged into the PathGroup portal using the same username and email address. Ten days later, she still had no results.
Ping said PathGroup eventually gave her results over the phone but did not explain why the portal didn’t work. When the problem arose again after a subsequent test, Ping asked specifically if there was a problem with her username. A PathGroup employee then sent her an email explaining she had to make a new account with a new username that was distinct from her prior account with AEL.
Armed with a new account, Ping returned to the PathGroup portal and found two sets of test results waiting for her. They had been online the entire time — beyond her reach.
“It makes the whole effort of testing worthless in my eyes,” Ping said. “Tests don't mean anything without results. The results are what we actually take action on.”
PathGroup officials declined to be interviewed for this story. The company said it would respond to questions submitted in writing, then didn’t answer those questions and instead sent a brief statement insisting it expanded its customer service team and is working to “raise awareness of any issues related to the portal.”
Brett Kelman is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8287 or at brett.kelman@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @brettkelman.
How to avoid the glitch
Some Nashville residents are having trouble getting coronavirus test results because of a problem involving the online web portal for PathGroup, the lab company that processes tests for the city. The glitch withholds online test results from people who meet all of the following criteria:
- Were tested before June 26 at Nissan Stadium, Meharry Medical College or the old Kmart location on Nolensville Pike
- Created a username and password to obtain their results through an online web portal
- Were tested again after June 26 at one of the same three sites
- And attempted to get their second results online again by using the same username.
If this occurred to you, you can fix it by returning to the web portal — pathgroup.luminatehealth.com — and making a new account with a new username. Additionally, you can call Nashville’s community assessment center test results hotline, 615-862-7007. This phone line provides test results only for people who were tested at Nissan Stadium, Meharry Medical College or the Kmart location.
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