At our GI center, we used to assume all our pathology data was being reported to the surgeon, the patient and the referring physician in a timely fashion and without fail. Our pathology lab would fax the results to the office, and office personnel would take the results to the physician. The doctor would read and initial the report, then tell the office nurse to call the patient with results, including follow-up dates. The phone-call system was nice because it was personal, and the patient could ask questions. It worked pretty well with only two physicians in the office.