Quest Opens Direct Access To Lab Results

Quest Diagnostics capitalizes on regulatory change and gives patients access to their own lab results on the web and mobile devices, boosting its own EHR software in the process.

Quest Diagnostics now offers patients web and mobile access to their own lab results, capitalizing on a recent regulatory change that made doing so legal in all 50 states.

Originally proposed in 2011, the rule updating provisions of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act and the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services initiative to give citizens greater access to their own health data. It allows people to get direct access to lab records, rather than going through their doctor. The final rule requiring labs to provide individuals with access to test results, either on paper or electronically, was announced in February and went into effect this month, with an October deadline for labs to comply.

"We complied as of April 7," Tom Wagner, CTO for Quest Diagnostics, a Madison, N.J.-based clinical laboratory services company with worldwide operations, said in an interview. "The reason it's important for us is we believe continuity of care needs to involve patients in their own care."