Blog

In the Works: New Patient Rights

| Sep 15, 2011

“When it comes to health care, information is power. When patients have their lab results, they are more likely to ask the right questions, make better decisions and receive better care.”
~ HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Patients and families may soon have a great opportunity to have more control over – and make improvements in – the health care they receive. Under a proposed rule released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today, patients will be able to receive test results reports directly from labs upon request.

This is great news: it will help patients access their information when they want and need to, ensure that their medical records are updated and accurate, and support them in being active and informed decision-makers in their care.

Does this take doctors out of the equation? Absolutely not. Doctors and other providers always have been and will continue to be essential in helping patients understand and interpret their test results. This rule won’t change that.

Here’s what it will change: Right now, many states have laws that prohibit patients and families from getting their test results directly from the labs; they must go through doctors’ offices instead. And unfortunately, there are still millions of patients who do not receive their lab results, leaving them without the information that they need. That, too, will change.

The new rule will allow patients to have a more hands-on role in their health care decisions and be able to seek the medical attention that they need – and that’s a huge step forward for better care.

Learn more in our statement.

About the Author

Christine Bechtel

Christine Bechtel

Christine Bechtel is the Vice President of the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she is responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the organization's day to day operations and programs. This includes overseeing every aspect of the organization's groundbreaking and multi-faceted health policy work, managing projects funded by the nation's largest foundations, partnerships with key business consortiums, and leading broad-based consumer coalitions that address issues ranging from health IT to patient-centered care to access.

Bechtel was previously vice president of the eHealth Initiative (eHI), a Washington D.C.-based non- profit organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of health care through information and information technology. As vice president, Bechtel headed the organization’s membership, public policy and government relations work. In this role, she led numerous initiatives to achieve consensus across the multiple stakeholders in health care on how to accelerate the adoption and effective use of health IT in a way that is responsible, sustainable, and builds and maintains the public's trust.

Prior to joining eHI, Bechtel worked with American Health Quality Association where she helped Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) and professionals improve the quality of health care in communities across America, focusing on the ambulatory setting, health disparities, and effective use of health IT. She also served as senior research advisor at AARP where she conducted public opinion studies and advised AARP’s leadership on public attitudes surrounding national political issues including Medicare prescription drugs, generic drugs, Social Security and elections issues.

Bechtel’s experience also includes community-based quality improvement activities. She was director of community development for Louisiana's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, Louisiana Health Care Review, where she was responsible for designing, implementing and overseeing innovative projects to improve health care quality for Medicare beneficiaries in Louisiana.

Bechtel served as a legislative associate for United States Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), focusing on legislative issues ranging from women’s health and stem cell research to Medicare and Social Security. She holds a bachelor's degree in politics and public policy from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland and a master's degree in political management from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Bechtel and her husband Peter live in Gaithersburg, Md.

Read more by this author
Back to Blog