While I was off a few days, the techs sent an antibody to our reference lab without really looking at the panel they had performed. When I reviewed our gel panel it was a perfect anti-Jka. The reference lab uses LISS and PEG. They told the techs the patient had an anti-Jka and an auto anti-M. The techs told them to crossmatch and send compatible blood. When I asked the techs why they had them crossmatch and send Jka negative units, they said they thought the auto anti-M would make the crossmatch incompatible. It took 12 hours and a lot of money to get 4 units of Jka negative blood. If the techs had looked at our panel, we would have had crossmatch compatible, Jka negative blood for the patient within 2 hours of completing the panel - and we would have saved a lot of money. If the reference lab had used gel, they would have only seen the anti-Jka and would have completed the work-up faster. We would not have known the patient had an auto anti-M, but that had no significance for our treatment of the patient.