New Rule Allows Patients Direct Access to Lab Reports

New Rule allows patients to obtain laboratory test reports directly without having to go to the doctors.

The U.S. department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared a rule that allows patients or their representatives direct access to their laboratory test results without going through the doctors. In certain cases lab reports are given after a written request.

This was first proposed in 2011 with the intention of empowering patients to make decisions on health-care and also to eliminate the gatekeeper system between the patients and their data.  

"A number of patients are getting increasingly active in managing their own health care, and having a gatekeeper between them and their data is just baffling," said Deven McGraw, director of the Health Privacy Project at the nonprofit Center for Democracy & Technology, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The new rule updates the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 and will have particular significance in 13 states that forbid releasing lab reports directly to the patients. The three agencies within HHS: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) jointly issued the final rule.

 Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary said in the press statement, "The right to access personal health information is a cornerstone of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. Information like lab results can empower patients to track their health progress, make decisions with their health care professionals, and adhere to important treatment plans."

A study conducted by the Archive of Internal Medicine says that abnormal lab tests are not communicated by the providers to the patients 7 to 26 percent of the times. Implementation of the rule helps avoid confusion relating to health and medical treatments. But, the American Medical Association and American Association of Family Physicians have voiced their concerns that allowing test results without seeking a doctor's opinion might prove dangerous.

 Reid Blackwelder, president of American Academy of Family Physicians called the new rule - a safety net for the patients who can get the lab results from another source, but he says that does not absolve the health provider of the responsibility to explain what the report means, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Laboratory company  Quest Diagnostics Inc has more than one million Americans signed up for its special application-Gazelle app that sends lab results to the smart phones three days after receiving requests by its patient.