Clinical laboratories, hospitals and health care providers say they support a recent federal proposal to give patients full access to their lab results, but they note that the plan could drive up costs and pose other challenges.
For example, some representatives of clinical labs are concerned that they will not have sufficient time to train staff or implement new services to comply with the changes.
In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Deirdre Kennedy, experts discussed the potential benefits and drawbacks of increasing patient access to lab reports.
The Special Report includes comments from:
- Kate Christensen, medical director of Kaiser Permanente's Internet Services Group;
- Jason DuBois, vice president of government relations for the American Clinical Laboratory Association;
- Lawrence Hughes, assistant general counsel for the American Hospital Association; and
- Eva Powell, director of Health IT Programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families (Kennedy, iHealthBeat, 1/12).
The complete transcript of this Special Report is available as a PDF.
Running Time: 4:11