A physician's failure to diagnose in a timely manner tops the chart as the most common allegation in medical professional liability lawsuits. This is why it is very important for every physician to establish a consistent process for tracking results.

CAP's Risk Management & Patient Safety Department offers the following suggestions to help protect your patient and you:

• Devise a system which notifies every patient of every result. The policy of "no news is good news" should not be used.

• Establish a simple, standardized system for notifying patients of both normal and abnormal test results.

• For normal or non-urgent abnormal results, your physician should initial, date, and provide instruction for the patient follow-up on the actual laboratory result sheet.

• All urgent abnormal results should be immediately directed to, and followed-up by, the physician. These reports should also be dated and initialed by the physician or an advanced-practice professional.

• Empower patients to serve as a double check system. Patients should be educated about what tests are being ordered, the purpose of the test, and when and how the results will be relayed. Give them a specific time frame to expect the results and, direct them to call the office if they have not received their results.