I use a local Quest because it's more convenient and I also believe costs Medicare less than have the hospital do it. What I've learned is that there are two ways to send them the prescription electronically. One way goes to a centralized Quest place and the local clinic can pull it down from there. I have had better luck with that than faxing to the local clinic itself. In addition, I always bring the paper order with me and that's important to do if you can so as to confirm they do what you want them to do. In my case I can print the order from the hospital portal.

I get PSA and testosterone results very quickly and can download them. The hospital has gotten them directly from Quest also. My primary care doc, on the other hand, says to always alert him when I've had the Quest blood draw because he doesn't think he otherwise gets a notice that they're available to him. Alternatively, I can also upload my copy of the results to the portal and send them to my doctor at the hospital and my primary care doctor that way if need be.

So that's what I've learned.