CAPcast from the College of American Pathologists

This month we recognize National Minority health month, look at the request for additional COVID funding, learn about new efforts in pandemic preparedness, and review highlights from this year’s pathologists leadership summit with Vaishali Pansare, MD, FCAP.

We spoke with Jonathan Myles, MD, FCAP, Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs. to get a preview of what to expect at this years' Pathologists Leadership Summit.

April is Head and Neck Cancer Awareness month. The National Cancer Institute estimates that head and neck cancers comprise 4% of cancers diagnosed each year. In 2021, more than 65,000 people impacted by newly diagnosed head and neck cancers. These cancers are diagnosed more often in women and also more often among people over age 50. CAP Cancer Protocols play an important role in disease managemen...

It's one thing to talk about the advocacy pathologists engage in, but it's another to get started in that advocacy, especially in a time where getting in contact with elected officals can be more difficult than ever. Bekra Yorke, MD, FCAP, Houston Methodist Hospital Pathology invited three residents: Chiraag Gangahar, MD, FCAP, Ashley Holloman, MD, and Lukas Cara, MD, to participate in their first...

The financial lifeblood of a pathology group relies on the efficiency of its billing operation. Assessing whether to insource or outsource a practice’s billing operations is the focus of this CAPcast episode, which features a recording of a Practice Management Committee Roundtable Discussion moderated by Committee Chair Karim Sirgi, MBA, MD, FCAP. In this discussion, Dr. Sirgi talks to two patholo...

This month we’ll look at recent efforts to strengthen the national blood supply, the passing of an omnibus bill by Congress, and the latest updates about the PREVENT Pandemics Act. We will also sit down with the Chair of the CAP’s Federal and State Affairs Committee, Dr. David Gang, to talk about the CAP’s legislative asks for this year’s Hill Day and what participants can do to prepare.

Integration of external laboratory test results without careful review could lead to significant patient safety issues, particularly as we move towards ever increasing usages of clinical decision support. These interoperability issues preclude artificial intelligence (AI) from reaching its potential, and instead introduce new risks pathologists need to be cognizant of, explains Monica de Baca, MD,...

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. In 2022, the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center, estimates that more than 150,000 patients will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the United States, with more than 52,000 dying of the disease. Early detection through prevention and screening is proven to dramatically reduce fatalities from this cancer. The CAP Cancer Protocols help e...

In this CAPcast, New in Practice Committee members Drs. Alan Brown and Jaclyn Rudzinski discuss common financial challenges and issues for fellows and new attendings, including common pathology practice structures as well as the importance of balancing debts and savings. This episode is adapted from a New-in-Practice Committee Roundtable discussion originally recorded on Nov. 12, 2021. For more in...

Few pathologists receive training on laboratory IT issues, or how to manage a new installation. In this CAPcast, John Sinard, MD, FCAP, discusses the educational case he has developed to teach planning tools related to successfully implementing histology tracking software. Dr. Sinard founded the Pathology Informatics Program at the Yale School of Medicine.

This month we’ll look at the Biden administration’s relaunch of its cancer moonshot initiative, addressing social determinants of health, and more. We'll also be speaking with the CAP’s Vice Chair for the Council on Government and Professional Affairs, Dr. Joe Saad. He will provide us with updates surrounding lawsuits and the No Surprises Act.

The topic of workload distribution, whether linked to a pathologist's "productivity" and compensation or simply considered as a part of group dynamics and harmony, is often treated as a taboo subject or completely ignored by the leadership and individual pathologists alike. In this CAPcast, Moira Larsen, MD, MBA, FCAP, and Karim Sirgi, MD, MBA, FCAP, will discuss how to determine workload distribu...

Feedback is a key component of learning in any field of medicine and no less so in pathology. Giving feedback can be difficult because there is little training for it and many teachers fear emotional responses from learners. In this CAPcast, Nicole Riddle, MD, FCAP, discusses how to most effectively provide and receive feedback and the importance of SMART goals. Dr. Riddle will be leading a course...

In 2022, CMS raised the number of points large practices need to score to avoid a MIPS penalty. Using the measures in the CAP’s registry is now the only way large practices can get enough points to meet the MIPS performance score threshold. Quality Payment Programs are here to stay, and pathologists are going to be continually subjected to evolving value-based payment programs. Eligible pathologis...

Trichomoniasis is the most common, non-viral, sexually transmitted infection. Pathologists providing laboratory testing for this infection should understand the advantages and disadvantages of the commercially available, FDA approved/cleared methods, explains Mayo Clinic pathologist Bobbi Pritt, MD, FCAP, in this CAPcast. Dr. Pritt led the development of the Clinical Pathology Improvement Program...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, perinatal deaths remain an important question, particularly because the mechanism of death remains unclear. A new study just published in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine (https://capatholo.gy/3JfXHTu) found that pathology abnormalities composing SARS-CoV-2 placentitis cause widespread and severe placental destruction that can result in still birt...

This month we’ll look at testing supply shortages caused by the Omicron variant, new dispute guidelines in the No Surprises Act, and more. Later, we will be speaking with the CAP’s Vice Chair on the Economic Affairs Committee, Dr. Ronald McLawhon, about the recent updates to clinical consultation codes for pathology.

Pathologists play an important role in assisting biorepositories in obtaining and setting standards for quality samples for research. In this CAPcast, Dr. Rebecca Obeng discusses the range of services and resources that biorepositories can provide researchers as well as the benefits and value of accreditation for biorepositories. Dr. Obeng is a pathologist at Northwestern Medicine and the CEO of t...

The laboratory director has a legal obligation to follow-up with all recalls that impact any test components or blood components used in the laboratory. While blood bankers are already on high alert for all blood component recalls, the impact from a medical device recall can be just as serious as a blood component recall. Per the CAP laboratory general checklist (GEN.20340), the laboratory manages...

Insufficient health plan networks and surprise medical bills have had a substantial impact on patients through the years. The No Surprises Act of 2020 aimed to address surprise bills by taking patients out of medical billing disputes between physicians and insurance companies. In part, the law set up an independent dispute resolution, or IDR, process that was supposed to be fair and impartial. How...

Evolving molecular technologies and genomic knowledge has significantly changed the diagnosis and management of T-cell malignancies. More and more clinical laboratories have adopted next generation sequencing platforms to assess clonality and to identify diagnostic and predictive biomarkers. However, current standard testing practices to diagnose T-cell lymphomas use clonality assessment by fragme...

What are some common challenges that pathologists face when they are transitioning from training to practice? This CAPcast features a panel discussion recorded during the 2021 Fall Residents Forum meeting, when Abdul Abid, MD, vice chair of the Resident Forum moderated a discussion on this topic with three pathologists who are early in their careers—Elizabeth Rinehart, MD, FCAP; Marcos Lepe, MD, F...

This month we’ll look at a lawsuit involving the implementation of the No Surprises Act, the efforts of Congress to mitigate Medicare cuts, and more. We'll also be speaking with Michael Giuliani, Senior Director of Legislation and Political Action, about the status of the Build Back Better act and other legislative priorities Pathologists should look out for.

Document review is a critical component of any laboratory accreditation inspection. Driven by the need to innovate due to the ongoing pandemic, the CAP now offers laboratories a choice on whether they want to share documents in advance of their inspection whether it be in person or virtual. In this CAPcast, Adrienne Malta, the CAP’s Director of Inspection Services will describe options for laborat...

Medical errors happen to all pathologists, and every pathologist wants to make sure that they never happen. Indeed, there are whole books on identifying and correcting errors that should be part of every lab's quality management plan and CAP accreditation is there to help pathologists prevent, catch, and correct errors. However what is often missed is the worry, mental effort and stress that patho...