InformationWeek reports on recent changes by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) giving patients the right to access their laboratory information. “Now that patients are legally entitled to their medical results from the lab,” the article states, “these laboratories must take further steps to ensure data doesn’t get into the wrong hands.” According to an HHS estimate, more than 22,000 laboratories will have to spend between $2 million and $10 million combined to develop interoperability systems to allow secure access, and, each year, labs could see as many as 3.5 million requests from patients or their representatives.
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