Lab Follow-Up Question

[Doctor Grim]

In my state, law requires that we notify our patients of their lab results, regardless of whether it is normal vs. abnormal, within 14 days. We also have to notify them the results of any radiological studies...etc.

I'm about to finish my residency and my question is, legally, in private practice, can I just have my patients come back in 2 weeks for a quick visit for their labs if one was done?

What is the business side of it in terms of cost-Benefits?

I mean if you see 20+ patients per day, and with a high enough no show rate, it is hard to make sure everyone gets their results, whether by calling them or sending them a mail...

Any ideas?

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[deleted87716]

I don't think my state's law requires us to notify patients of normal test results, but we do anyway. I just think it's the right thing to do.

If your staff is overwhelmed making phone calls, postcards are another option. They're expensive, however, and there are confidentiality issues to consider (they can't be regular one-sided postcards, and they have to be sealed in such a way as to prevent them from being read without being opened). Plus, many of these will generate a phone call from the patient who has questions or wants additional details beyond "your labs are normal."

If you have an EMR, most of these offer Web-based patient portals where patients can check their labs themselves. That has the potential to be a big time-saver for offices. You can also used an automated callback system, like Televox, although we tried one of these a few years ago and found it to be more trouble than it was worth.

If there isn't another reason to have the patient return, I think bringing them in just for lab results would be a big waste of everyone's time. It would be a minimal-complexity office visit, and patients would probably resent having to take time off work and make another co-payment just so you can tell them their labs are normal.