HHS has frustrated some doctors by requiring them to send patients test results before they have a chance to explain them.
Concerned doctors have convinced legislatures in at least two states to weigh in on their behalf. | Mykola Tys/AP PhotoCongress was full of good intentions when it directed the Department of Health and Human Services to make sure patients get their test results as soon as they’re available.
The doctors say they know how their patients feel. Patients “are extremely angry and have had harms they’re reporting from getting instant access,” AMA President Jack Resneck said. “We’re seeing a parent who finds out at nine o’clock on a Friday night when they can’t reach anybody that their child’s leukemia has recurred.”
“That test result may be what someone needs in order to search for a clinical trial, an emergency second opinion, for a Social Security disability application or to connect with necessary community supports,” said Grace Cordovano, a board-certified patient advocate. Just before, the AMA, the American Hospital Association, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives and other groupsfor a further delay, arguing that providers’ technical systems weren’t yet ready, and that vendor and provider deadlines weren’t aligned.
“We’re just asking for a little flexibility for a few hours or a few days when there’s bad news to be able to deliver it by phone or in person and to be able to more personally deliver that bad news,” Resneck said. “What we’re talking about is very rare, less than 1 percent of cases.”it commissioned showing close to two-thirds of patients want their doctor to talk them through “life-changing” results.
“Ultimately, the result is the patient’s to have and they should decide the timing of it,” said Deven McGraw, a member of ONC’s Health IT Advisory Committee, former high-ranking HHS Office for Civil Rights official and lead of data stewardship and sharing at biotech firm Invitae.
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