Guidance on New Rule Requiring Laboratories to Release Test Results to Patients

​Clinicians may be interested in a viewpoint article published July 9, 2014, in the Journal of the American Medical Association that offers guidance to help providers and organizations comply with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new rule requiring laboratories to provide patients with test results upon request (see the February 21, 2014, Physician Practice E-News). The new rule means that patients may receive test results before they have discussed them with a clinician, potentially leading to confusion or anxiety. Providers may choose to proactively counsel patients about common outcomes of a test, including the normative values and the potential for false positives, in order to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results.