ACLA Offers Qualified Support to Proposal Giving Patients Direct Access to Lab Test Results

The ACLA, the nation’s largest group representing clinical laboratories, has some concerns regarding the proposal to give patients direct access to lab test results. One concern is third-party access issues are completely ignored. It’s not clear whether a patient’s right of access to test results includes the patient’s right to have the test results shared with others. In addition, ACLA has concerns that the implementation date is too soon for many labs to prepare to comply fully with the regulation. Also, ACLA is worried about the impact of providing highly complex test results, such as genetic or molecular testing, directly to patients without some opportunity for interpretation of the results by a physician or a certified genetic counselor who is trained to understand and interpret the results.