NY Times (10/3/22): Your Medical Test Results Are Available. But Do You Want to View Them?
An excerpt:
“A provision in the 21st Century Cures Act, a federal law ….requires all medical testing centers to release results to patients “without delay.” In practice, this means that doctors and patients often receive results simultaneously — and some patients are seeing them before their doctors have a chance to look…
Its intention was to bring health care into the modern era. And the provision has successfully given patients easy access to their medical records, empowering them to play a more active role in their care by eliminating the doctor as gatekeeper.
But it has also led to experiences … in which patients are confronted with material they never wanted to see. Some have learned about life-altering diagnoses and developments — from cancer to chronic illness to miscarriage — through emails and online portals, left to process the information alone…
When difficult, life-changing information is delivered in this way, “it cuts off any opportunity for doctors to get ahead of things,” said Dr. Emily Porter, an emergency room and sexual health physician in Austin, Texas, who has criticized the policy on social media.”
My take: I would prefer that physicians have a short period (~24 hrs) to see test results so that we can inform families and provide context. Currently, at times, I get panicked messages through MyChart from families regarding results, even in cases in which the results are fine.
Related blog posts:
- Be Kind & the 21st Century Cures Act
- How Sharing Clinical Notes Affects the Patient-Physician Relationship
- Why Every EHR User Needs a Physician Champion Colleague | gutsandgrowth
gutsandgrowth 
24 hours (maybe longer)….we shouldn’t put doctors under additional time lines and add more stress. We should encourage responsible care of our patients. Any data that has shown increased access for patients has led to better outcomes? Any data that shows increased patient access has led to more unnecessary interventions, more doc visits, more consults, more testing for abnormalities that don’t need intervention. But the increased need for patient satisfaction leads to appeasing patient requests?