Ted Eytan, MD, MPH is a Medical Advisor at Medivo and medical director for Delivery Systems Operations, Permanente Federation LLC, Washington, D.C.

In a recent interview, Dr. Eytan discusses how patient portals in general, and Kaiser Permanente specifically, can be used to empower patients by providing them with lab test results.

Dr. Eytan is and has long been an advocate of freeing the data – and allowing patients to have simple and easy access to their health  records – specifically lab test results.

There is often resistance from providers from providing the actual results to patients, but there are plenty of reason why we should be proactive in getting the information into the hands of the patient.  As Dr. Eytan puts it:

I would prioritize getting the information out there first… The worst situation is not having any information at all, and sometimes I see that people choose not to deliver information because they fear not delivering it well. If we believe that the purpose of laboratory testing is to provide information that reduces uncertainty, not providing the information and not reducing uncertainty is missing the point.