Direct-to-Patient Laboratory Test Reporting: Balancing Access With Effective Clinical Communication

Michael J. Young, MPhil; Ethan Scheinberg; Harold Bursztajn, MD

 

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

In February 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a landmark ruling allowing patients direct access to completed medical laboratory reports. The ruling took effect April 7, 2014, and gives laboratories 180 days from that date to comply. Although this recent change to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) empowers patients by removing access barriers to personal health information, it raises a variety of clinical and ethical questions involving practitioners, patients, and society. To capture the benefits of the change and to minimize potential challenges, clinicians will need to proactively counsel patients to ensure that patients do not engage in detrimental self-interpretation of test results, especially because of the abundance of information and misinformation made available through the Internet and other sources.

 

JAMA. 312(2): 127-128, July 2014.

Link to Online Publication (available in the library)

 


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