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Effective patient-physician communication is essential for optimal health care. Recent introduction of online patient portals to access test results are changing the communication landscape, but regulatory guidelines for the online release of biopsy results vary from state to state.

To assess patient preferences for receiving skin biopsy results to rule out melanoma and to compare those preferences to current physicians’ practices for notification.

English-speaking individuals 18 years or older were recruited consecutively from melanoma clinics at 3 academic tertiary referral medical centers: University of California, San Francisco, University of Pennsylvania, and Duke University. Patients were surveyed from July 1, 2012, through July 31, 2013. A second survey of physicians at these institutions was conducted to assess physician notification practices.

A total of …