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- Advocacy Win: Kentucky Pathologists-CAP Amended Test Results Law Enacted
On April 8, Kentucky State House Bill 529 was enacted, without Gov. Andy Beshear’s signature, displacing the information blocking requirements of the federal 21st Century Cures Act for certain test results and pathology reports. The Kentucky Society of Pathology (KSP), the CAP, and the Kentucky Medical Association (KMA) successfully amended the legislation to address pathologist concerns with the initial bill. The CAP worked to safeguard pathologists and laboratories from federal legal risks under the Cures Act considered to be information blocking, resulting from delay in the release of diagnostic testing results to patients.
The new law mandates certain pathology reports and test results to be withheld for 72-hours before patients can access the result in the electronic health record to mitigate the risk of potential emotional distress to patients, pending patient conferral with the ordering physician.
Specifically, the KSP, the CAP, and the KMA worked together to remove legal and operational non-compliance risk to pathologists and clinical laboratories by placing the state legal obligation of withholding certain clinical laboratory and pathology test results and reports exclusively on the entities or persons who control the electronic health record.
The law took effect upon enactment.