(a) No person, except patients who are performing tests on themselves by order of their physician, shall examine human specimens without the written request of a physician, an intern or resident in an American Medical Association approved training program, a duly licensed optometrist, a duly licensed dentist, a duly licensed chiropractic physician, or other health care professional legally permitted to submit to a medical laboratory a written request for tests appropriate to that professional’s practice, or the written request of a law enforcement officer acting in accordance with § 55-10-406.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-29-121

  • Designated Entity: means an entity that performs actions or functions on behalf of the provider, payer or patient for the purposes of creating an electronic health record. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • Medical laboratory: means any institution, building, or place in which operations and procedures for the microbiological, serological, chemical, hematological, immunohematological, or biophysical examination of specimens taken from the human body are performed to obtain information for diagnosis, prophylaxis, or treatment or where any examination, determination, or test is made on any sample used as a basis for health advice, or where any sample is collected for the purpose of transfusion or processing of blood or blood fractions, or for the training of medical laboratory personnel. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • Medical laboratory director: means a person who is responsible for the administration of the technical and scientific operation of a medical laboratory, including supervision of procedures for testing and the reporting of results. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • Medical laboratory personnel: includes the medical laboratory director, supervisor, technologist, or technician, but does not include medical laboratory assistants, trainees, or other persons employed by a medical laboratory to perform clerical or other administrative responsibilities involving no laboratory test. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • Person: means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, municipality, political subdivision, or any other entity whether organized for profit or not. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • Physician: means any doctor of medicine or doctor of osteopathy duly licensed to practice the doctor's profession in Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 68-29-103
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) The results of a test shall be reported directly to the physician, optometrist, dentist, chiropractic physician, designated entity or other health care professional who requested it. The report shall include the name of the director and the name and address of the medical laboratory in which the test was actually performed.
(c) All specimens accepted by medical laboratory personnel and/or special analysts shall be tested on the premises, except that specimens for infrequently performed tests may be forwarded for examination to another medical laboratory licensed under this chapter or licensed or exempt under the federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1967 (42 U.S.C. § 263a). This shall not be construed as prohibiting the referral of specimens to a medical laboratory excepted under § 68-29-104. However, the medical laboratory director of the referring medical laboratory shall assume complete responsibility.
(d) Notwithstanding § 68-29-104(13), this section applies to medical personnel employed by and performing testing at a private laboratory.
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