The blood count at the oncologist’s office, without going to a lab

It is a short law answering a very concrete question: why your hematologist-oncologist can do the CBC right there instead of sending you to a lab. The law expressly authorizes it, and limits it to one case: cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, for the blood counts necessary to administer that treatment.

The authorization covers only cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, and only for the complete blood counts necessary to administer that treatment. The one who may operate the analyzer is the physician specialised in hematology-oncology duly certified by the Puerto Rico Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline.

• Being a cancer patient receiving chemotherapy.Verified against the official source
• That the complete blood count be one of those necessary to administer the chemotherapy treatment.Verified against the official source
• That it be performed by a physician specialised in hematology-oncology duly certified by the Puerto Rico Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

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   Step 1: What exactly the law authorizes

   A single article says it all: “Hematologist-Oncologists are authorized to possess and operate automated blood analyzers in their offices so that there they may perform, only for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, the complete blood counts necessary to administer the chemotherapy treatment.” The three limits sit in that same sentence: in their offices, only for patients on chemotherapy, and only the counts necessary to administer that treatment.

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   Step 2: It is an authorization to the physician, not a patient entitlement

   Worth saying plainly so nobody arrives with the wrong expectation. The law empowers the hematologist-oncologist to have and operate the equipment; it obliges no office to have one, nor does it give you a right to demand it be done there. If your physician sends you to a lab, they are not breaching this law.

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   Step 3: What a complete blood count is, per the law

   The legal definition is useful because it sets the scope: “the blood test usually known as ‘Cell Blood Count’ or CBC, which gives detailed information on the different cell types present in blood, in particular red cells, white cells and platelets.” Nothing the law authorizes goes beyond that test.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who may operate the equipment

   The law does not say “the physician” in general. It defines a hematologist-oncologist as “the physician specialised in hematology-oncology duly certified by the Puerto Rico Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline.” That certification is part of the definition, not a detail.

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   Step 5: The equipment is regulated by Health

   It is not left to each office’s discretion. “The Health Secretary is empowered to craft the regulation necessary to govern the use and maintenance of automated blood analyzers, so that they meet the standards the Secretary sets, so that said devices are in optimal condition.” The law further orders them to amend or repeal any regulation with contrary provisions.

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   Step 6: Why it was passed

   The statement of motives explains it in the patient’s terms: the measure “will bring direct relief to the burdens cancer patients experience by not having to go to the clinical laboratory to have their CBC done, since their own physician will carry it out.” And it notes that, thanks to technological advances, CBCs can be performed in minutes with an automated blood analyzer.

There is no procedure or application: it is an authorization operating in the relationship between your hematologist-oncologist and their equipment, under Health Department regulation. If your matter is health plan coverage for cancer treatment, that has its own guide; if it is a patient right before a health facility, that is the patient bill of rights.

• Demanding the CBC be done in the office: the law authorizes the physician, it does not require the office to have the equipment.
• Assuming it covers any blood test: the authorization is only for the complete blood count or CBC.
• Thinking it applies to any cancer patient: the text says only those receiving chemotherapy.
• Believing any physician may operate it: the law defines the hematologist-oncologist certified by the Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline.
• Looking in this law for whether your plan covers it: it provides nothing on coverage or billing.
• Expecting a fine: the law sets no penalty.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

  Salud

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov