A new law taking effect September 1 in Texas will change how patients receive sensitive medical test results. Senate Bill 922, passed by the Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Abbott, gives physicians up to three days to review certain test outcomes before sharing them with patients electronically.
Previously, federal rules under the 21st Century Cures Act required immediate release of health information through online portals. Since spring 2021, this led to many patients receiving complex or alarming results before their doctors could explain what they meant.
The new law applies to tests likely to reveal serious conditions, such as cancer screenings or genetic markers. It allows doctors time to interpret the findings and discuss them directly with patients before electronic release.
“When Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 922 into law, he restored something we never thought we would need to fight for: the right for patients to receive life-changing medical results from their clinicians, and the right for physicians to deliver this information in a timely, informative, compassionate manner,” said Dallas oncologist David E. Gerber, MD.
Cindy Lenert, a cancer patient from Pottsboro who has been treated by Dr. Gerber for several years, welcomed the change. “It’s fantastic, I love it,” she said. “It’s just going to take a lot of anxiety away from the patient.”
Lenert recalled her own experience with receiving confusing scan results online while waiting for a follow-up appointment. “I didn’t know what the heck I was reading, so I’m all upset, thinking, is this good? Is it bad?” she said.
Dr. Gerber testified at the legislature on behalf of the Texas Medical Association about how immediate electronic notifications left some patients learning of serious diagnoses unexpectedly—sometimes during routine activities like business dinners or bedtime with children.
“The pendulum just swung too fast, too far… from zero to 100,” Dr. Gerber said about rapid changes in result notification practices.
He estimated that up to three out of four patients received pathology reports before their doctor saw them and noted that anxious individuals often check messages immediately even if an explanation is not yet available.
“Although this bill places a brief pause on the electronic transfer of some test results to a patient, it allows for a physician to call a patient with the results at any time,” Dr. Gerber added. “Giving the right information, rather than just the fastest information.”
Lenert’s experience after speaking with her doctor highlights one intended benefit of the law: “He told me it was good news,” she said about her recent test outcome discussion. “It had not spread, didn’t look like it was growing at all. He made me feel really good.”
