Recently, there has been an increasing prevalence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) appearing in the clinical laboratory. Molecular genomics has benefited greatly from this technology in that it allows high throughput and accurate testing. NGS also has the value of providing standard of care testing while simultaneously reporting other potential therapies for certain subsets of patients where no standard clinical therapy exists. While many smaller-panel NGS platforms have become standard in molecular diagnostics, the application of larger panels and whole exome sequencing is rare. Our laboratory is one of the few to have pioneered the clinical application of whole exome sequencing, and thus we have had to overcome logistical obstacles, specifically with sample collection and handling. Large panel testing requires that the laboratory collect both tumor and normal tissue. The challenge we faced, as do many labs, was the coordination of blood collection (normal) while in parallel arranging the transport of either formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) or fresh tumor sample. Furthermore, in many cases, the archival FFPE was not sufficient, thus requiring the coordination of prospective surgical tissue. Faced with this logistical and scheduling challenge, we created a "clinical team" with the goal of serving as the patient liaison between clinic, phlebotomy, surgery, and the laboratory. The team was specifically responsible for patient outreach and ensuring seamless coordination and transport of samples into the clinical laboratory. As a result of such coordinated and multi-team effort, our clinical laboratory was able to process more than 2,000 whole exome cases and direct many patients into investigational trials. Also, the quality of data was improved through the collection of fresh tissue. Most importantly, the burden and stress of scheduling and sample coordination was lifted from the patient and transferred to a team specifically employed to handle such a burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]