Page 28 - 2021 Risk Reduction Series - Communication Part One

SVMIC Risk Reduction Series: Communication

If the patient was referred to you by another physician such as

a PCP or specialist, you should notify the referring physician of
the refusal of consent.

Patient Notification

There should be a consistent method for communicating

to patients ALL test results and instructing them to call the
office if they have not received the results within the expected

timeframe. These instructions to the patients, as well as actual
patient notification, should be documented in the medical

record. Although instructing the patient to call for test results
does not absolve the doctor of the duty to inform the patient,

it does act as another safety net to ensure that important test
results do not get overlooked and is a legitimate means of

vesting patients in their own healthcare. The more layers of
redundancy that can be built into a system, the better.

It should be noted that, irrespective of a facility’s statutory

responsibility to report test results, (e.g., mammograms), it does
not alleviate the physician of the responsibility of ensuring the

patient has been notified of all test results as previously outlined.

The American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Medical

Ethics Opinion 2.1.5 outlines expectations of physicians to
4
ensure that test results are communicated appropriately to

patients:

• The patient (or surrogate decision-maker if the patient

lacks decision-making capacity) is informed about when
he or she can reasonably expect to learn the results of

clinical tests and how those results will be conveyed.

4 https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/informed-consent

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