Concerns by physicians about the repercussions of increasing independent patient access to online laboratory reports may be unfounded. Patients who view their lab test results online overwhelmingly react with positive, rather than negative, emotions, and access to the records does not seem to increase the ordering physician’s workload, according to a study published Oct. 3 in the Journal of Participatory Medicine. Kaiser Permanente’s online rollout of laboratory test results began in 2005 and was completed in 2007 with the vast majority of test results available to patients at the same time they are available to the ordering physicians. Pathology results, genetic tests, and sometimes HIV results (to comply with state laws) are among the exceptions. Standard ranges for test results, general information about the type of test, any physician comments (such as, “This is heading in the right direction”), and details about follow-up testing are included. Past lab results remain in the members’ accounts indefinitely. Kaiser says that viewing of online lab results has steadily increased and is now the most frequently used feature of the online health record with consistently high satisfaction ratings on member surveys. In this study the researchers conducted an e-mail survey of Kaiser Permanente members, […]