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HB 409PENNSYLVANIASession 2025-2026State Billpassed chamber

Passed

Pennsylvania House Bill 409 Overhauls Patient Diagnostic Test Result Notification and Portal Release Rules

Original title: An Act amending the act of October 24, 2018 (P.L.719, No.112), known as the Patient Test Result Information Act, further providing for definitions, for test results and for duties of Department of Health.

Last action · April 21, 2025: Referred to HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, April 21, 2025Sponsors: Bridget Malloy Kosierowski and 27 others

Bill progressHistory & official text ↓

Introduced

Committee

Floor Vote

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Law

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What This Bill Would Do

Pennsylvania House Bill 409 replaces existing direct-notification rules for diagnostic imaging with a requirement that facilities provide written notice at the time of service detailing how patients can access records online or by mail. The bill also establishes a one-business-day waiting period before pathology reports, radiology reports, clinical laboratory tests likely showing malignancy, and genetic tests can be disclosed on patient electronic health portals, unless an ordering practitioner orders earlier release. Additionally, the measure restricts the Department of Health's compliance reviews strictly to verifying whether facilities have established required policies and procedures.

Why it matters

Patients will receive portal instructions at their appointments rather than separate specific abnormality alerts, while waiting up to one full business day to view sensitive pathology, radiology, lab, or genetic test results online unless their doctor authorizes an immediate release.

Background

The Patient Test Result Information Act (P.L.719, No.112) was originally enacted on October 24, 2018, to establish mandatory procedures for notifying patients directly about their diagnostic imaging test results. context

Who It Would Affect

Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.

Directly affected

Patients

Patients receive written access instructions at the time of diagnostic imaging and experience a one-business-day waiting period before sensitive pathology, radiology, or genetic results appear on electronic portals.

Directly affected

Health care facilities and clinical laboratories

Facilities must develop and implement policies and procedures for providing test results, provide written notices at the time of service, and withhold specific sensitive test results for one full business day.

Directly affected

Health care practitioners

Practitioners retain the authority to direct the early release of sensitive test results before the one-business-day waiting period elapses.

Directly affected

Department of Health

The department must conduct compliance reviews limited to verifying whether health care facilities and clinical laboratories have developed and implemented required test result policies and procedures.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I view all of my test results immediately on my online patient portal?

No. Pathology reports, radiology reports, clinical lab tests likely to show malignancy, and tests revealing genetic markers are withheld from electronic health records for one full business day after finalization, unless your ordering health care practitioner authorizes an earlier release.

What tests are exempt from the time-of-service written notice requirement?

Exemptions include routine obstetrical ultrasounds, tests performed on patients treated on an inpatient, emergency department, or observation unit basis, s, diagnostic imaging for s if notice was previously given, and results provided directly to the patient at the time of testing.

What is the Department of Health's role in enforcing these rules?

The Department of Health conducts compliance reviews on licensed health care facilities and clinical laboratories, but its scope is strictly limited to determining whether facilities have developed and implemented policies and procedures for providing test results.

What else do you want to know?

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

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Where This Stands

Currently passed chamber. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Law.

Procedural history

11 actions

Apr 21, 2025SenateCommittee
Referred to HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, April 21, 2025
Apr 21, 2025Senate
In the Senate
Apr 7, 2025HouseFloor
Third consideration and final passage, April 7, 2025 (202-1)
Apr 7, 2025HouseCommittee
Re-reported as committed, April 7, 2025
Mar 19, 2025House
Re-committed to APPROPRIATIONS, March 19, 2025
Mar 19, 2025HouseFloor
Second consideration, March 19, 2025

Show 5 earlier actions

Mar 18, 2025House
Removed from table, March 18, 2025
Feb 5, 2025House
Laid on the table, Feb. 5, 2025
Feb 5, 2025HouseIntroduced
First consideration, Feb. 5, 2025
Feb 5, 2025House
Reported as amended, Feb. 5, 2025
Jan 29, 2025HouseCommittee
Referred to HEALTH, Jan. 29, 2025

Version history & redline

2 versions on file

Comparing Printer's No. 0381 → Printer's No. 0476

removed addedOfficial text

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 381 PRINTER'S NO. 476 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE BILL No. 409 Session of 2025 INTRODUCED BY KOSIEROWSKI, HILL-EVANS, VENKAT, DONAHUE, SANCHEZ, FREEMAN, NEILSON, RABB, WARREN, GIRAL, PROBST, STEELE, OTTEN, D. WILLIAMS, MAYES, KENYATTA, GUENST, MERSKI AND MERSKI, BOYD, CURRY, GREEN AND WEBSTER, JANUARY 29, 2025 REFERRED TO AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, JANUARY 29, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, FEBRUARY 5, 2025 AN ACT Amending the act of October 24, 2018 (P.L.719, No.112), entitled "An act providing for notification of patient test results to be […] "Chronic condition." An illness that frequently recurs or persists for a period in excess of three months. "Diagnostic imaging service." A medical imaging test performed on a patient that is intended to diagnose the presence

Redline computed from the official version text (record lane).View this version →

Lobbying Activity

No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.

Full breakdown

Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.

Related Legislation

State Bill

Pennsylvania requires dialysis centers to maintain a minimum staffing ratio of one caregiver per four patients

Pennsylvania House Bill 475 mandates that all licensed dialysis facilities in the Commonwealth maintain a minimum staffing ratio of one qualified dial

State Bill

Pennsylvania House Bill 409 Overhauls Patient Diagnostic Test Result Notification and Portal Release Rules

Pennsylvania House Bill 409 replaces existing direct-notification rules for diagnostic imaging with a requirement that facilities provide written noti

Discoveries

1 pattern noticed across the record

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift98% confidence

Shift from Direct Significant Abnormality Notice to Portal Access and Holding Periods

The legislation removes the prior requirement for 20-day direct notices of significant abnormalities, replacing it with time-of-service portal/mail instructions and a mandatory one-business-day holding period for sensitive or malignancy-related results.

Department of Health

Connected Entities

Department of Health, United States Postal Service

OrganizationDepartment of Health“State department responsible for conducting compliance reviews on licensed healt”Map →

OrganizationUnited States Postal Service“Mentioned in stricken prior text regarding mail transmittal.”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.palegis.us

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance60
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy15
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment5
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz25
Current news / social attention level

Publisher tools

What This Bill Would Do

Who It Would Affect

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

News Coverage

Where This Stands

Procedural history

Version history & redline

Lobbying Activity

Full breakdown

Sponsors

Related Legislation

Pennsylvania requires dialysis centers to maintain a minimum staffing ratio of one caregiver per four patients

Pennsylvania House Bill 409 Overhauls Patient Diagnostic Test Result Notification and Portal Release Rules

Discoveries

Shift from Direct Significant Abnormality Notice to Portal Access and Holding Periods

Connected Entities

Sources

Analysis Score

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