News release: “Ever have a medical test done and then had to wait around – sometimes anxiously, depending on the test – to get the lab test results from your doctor? That’s about to change. Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations that would give patients the ability to access their clinical lab test results directly from the lab, instead of having to wait to receive the results from their health care provider. This change further empowers patients to manage their own health care and organize electronic copies of their own data – a major benefit of the health care system’s transition to digital records…Yesterday’s proposed regulations will change how test results get to patients. The proposed regulations would modify CLIA to permit labs to send results directly to patients, and the proposed regulations would also modify the HIPAA Privacy Rule to give patients the right to access or receive their lab results. Contrary state laws would be preempted. As with patients’ existing right of access, patients would have the ability to request their lab results in a particular form or format; for example, patients could request a paper copy of their test results, or to have the results sent electronically to the patients’ personal health record. (For more information on patients’ right to access their medical data, see CDT’s page on Getting Your Medical Records.)”