[yourapostasy]

The medical community should reconsider the standard policy of not having that conversation. While it may be medically sound practice, the insurance industry takes these reference values as Gospel Truth. Your life insurance premiums and coverage are predicated on how much deviation you exhibit from the reference ranges.

[robbiep]

Only in countries that are allowed to differentiate on the basis of lab tests. Which is not the case where I practice.

If a lab result is outside the normal range and a patient has a reason for it to be outside the normal range, that's fine. If a patient has a deviation that is related to their presenting complaint, that's fine too. If a patient has an unexplained deviation which is not related to the presenting complaint, well, there's a 1 in 20 chance that the variation is statistical only. So you use your clinical judgement. is this a patient who requires outpatient follow-up and repeat, or is this an abberation?

[martingoodson]

Actually, there is a one in twenty chance that a normal person would generate the results in question. Not the same thing.