The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering a bill that would require diagnostic imaging providers to notify patients when outpatient diagnostic imaging reveals significant abnormalities, according to the American College of Radiology (ACR).
The Patient Test Result Information Act (HB 1884) would apply to findings that require follow-up care within three months of the imaging procedure, and it would require patients to receive written notice about these findings no sooner than seven days before and no later than 20 days after results are sent to the referring physician, the ACR said. Routine obstetric ultrasound, inpatient imaging, and diagnostic radiographs would be exempted.
The bill also covers various ways these results would be communicated to the patient, including required patient signoff after delivery and a signoff exemption when the results are reported at the time of service.
