I guess my husband has been lucky. If he has an imaging done (CT scan for instance). His oncologist office makes the appointment for CT and schedules an appointment with his oncologist for a week or so later . He normally will have his blood work done at 7am (in oncologist office)and will then see his doctor at 8. By then she has the results except for his Igm which he gets the next day. If his doctor is concerned about his Igm results she will call in a day or two. His oncology office is in a Hospital so maybe that makes a difference? We are pretty happy with the system they have in place there.

The moment my results hit the portal I can see them, I get an e-mail

Last week I got 3 month FU labs results back. I get a portal message from the Dr's office wanting to know how much Vit D I am taking because my Vit D is low. So I say my multivitamin has X amt and my calcium supplement has X amt ; making total a day equal 375% of daily recommended amount (plus my walks outside in the sun). Hey and BTW, I have taken 3 courses of progressive ABTs and 2 courses of steroids over the last 9 weeks because of this infection. Because you know how ABTs can and do affect your test results.

Response - Office staff says double that amount. I reply that I don't think doubling multivitamin or calcium supplement makes sense because they have many other things. Message back says - take just a Vit D supplement. I look them up - They come in 25 mcg or 50 mcg doses. Plus further research is that vit D is fat soluble so it can build up in your system. So I ask if /when FU labs are needed and ask for her to tell me exactly what dose to take. I get a range back (seriously) and my question on labs / build is ignored.

I message back that I understand that this is a lot of back and forth and her time is valuable so should we just schedule an appt? Her reply? Directly from the Dr, instead of the office staff, states this conversation is inappropriate for email and that I must schedule an appt. Oh - BTW - they are scheduling new appts about two months out. So, the Dr did not even read my message (you wonder what information they actually got and just ARGH.....)

The reality is that now with any test results - you may either get an official medical report (which I, as a nurse, can't always figure out), or you get a short message that says essentially - nothing to be concerned about or here is what you need to do or you need to schedule an appt for your results. Or my personal pet peeve, when an unlicensed office person (admin staff) calls you and relays a message. No explanation other than Dr got the test back, they called in a prescription of XYZ or whatever. The person you are talking to is not qualified to offer their opinion or explain things - but they frequently do. If you have questions, either they make things up based on their experience working in a Dr's office OR you are told to schedule an appt with the Dr.

The killer issues with that, most correct response is:
1) Do you start the new med immediately with no answers or understanding?
2) How long of a delay to get an appt - a day or two, weeks, or months?
3) The time and expense of another Dr appt (you have already invested the time/expense: 1st appt, getting testing, delays in 2nd appt).

No system is perfect but at least we can share what we know.

I haven’t experienced this

I haven't been charged one cent.