The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) drafted a new proposed rule that would make lab reports more accessible, particularly to patients. According to an article in Modern Healthcare, the proposed rule notes that some states do not allow patients direct access to lab test results. Currently, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) only allows three categories of individuals to receive lab test results: the “authorized person,” the person who will use the results in the treatment context, and the referring lab. The 45-page proposed rule would change this stipulation, so patients in the affected states wouldn’t have to wait for the results to be reported by their ordering physician.

In the CMS proposed rule, CLIA would be amended to allow patients direct access to their completed test reports, at the patient’s request. The proposed rule, due to be published in the next issue of the Federal Register, would also change the HIPAA privacy rule for the same purpose.

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