Outline potential outcomes and treatment options up front. Also consider adding a note when releasing results to clarify that clinicians have not yet reviewed the results and will add interpretation later.Ģ. There are many methods to communicate these expectations: clinicians should have these conversations with patients as part of their workflow for ordering tests, and staff can broach this topic with patients during check-in or check-out touch points. If this isn’t what patients are used to, organizations should proactively inform patients of the change. Patients need to know that if they undergo a lab or pathology test, the results will become available to them at the same time the results become available to clinicians. ![]() Inform patients about immediate results release. Organizations should take these four steps:ġ. While the switch to immediate results release presents an opportunity for providers to empower patients to be more hands-on when it comes to their care, provider organizations and clinicians will need to set expectations and equip patients up front with the information they need to understand their results and any next steps. How to prepare patients for immediate results release Immediate results release can therefore help to foster an environment of transparency between clinicians and patients, further engage patients in their care, and limit anxiety that can occur while awaiting test results. It’s important to remember, though, that patients not only have a right to access this data, but they’re also beginning to expect that they can access their EHI quickly, as they can with so many other types of data today. ![]() That’s sparking understandable concerns among clinicians who worry some patients may not know how to interpret or react to their results without guidance from their provider, potentially causing unnecessary alarm. In removing the delays, lab and pathology test results become available to patients at the same time as clinicians-and, sometimes, patients may even see their results before their clinicians have had a chance to review them. Ready or not, ONC's information blocking deadline is here. ONC has made it clear that providers largely can no longer delay the release of EHI to patients, including lab and pathology test results. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's (ONC) new information blocking requirements, which took effect last month, aim to make it easier and faster for patients to access their electronic health information (EHI). A mandated, major shift in lab and pathology test results release But because of new federal requirements, many provider organizations are now removing those delays. This allowed clinicians to review the results before patients could access them and determine how best to deliver the results to patients. It’s been common practice to delay releasing lab and pathology results to patient portals for a certain period, particularly for abnormal results. ![]() The emergence of patient portals has made accessing and sharing health care data easier for patients, but the process often still moves at what can feel like a snail's pace-especially if a patient is anxiously awaiting the results of a lab or pathology test. Patients' health care data has long been siloed, existing largely in paper files stored on doctor offices’ shelves or in electronic systems that couldn’t interact with each other.
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