Description
April 17, 2026
Practice Surveys | College of American Pathologists
Enhancing Laboratory Management Operations Globally – CAP Foundation webinar
The Pathologist | Inside Pathology’s New Audio Drama
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Practice leaders weigh in. Testing post-mortem blood for bacteria and an upcoming CAP Foundation webinar. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Friday, April 17th. Seven out of 10 pathology practice leaders say their practice has been hurt by decreasing reimbursement rates. And of those, 26% reported that the cutbacks led to staffing reductions. That's one key finding from the CAP's annual Practice Leader Survey, which will be released next week. We spoke with Dr. W. Stephen Black-Shaffer, chair of the CAP Policy Roundtable Subcommittee, and Dr. Sarah Eakin. chair of the CAP's practice survey work group, about that finding and other results of the survey. Dr. Eakin noted that reimbursement cuts hit hardest among laboratory staff, and the damage isn't just to jobs.
I think it's important to note that when we're advocating for increased reimbursement, we're not just advocating for pathologists, we're advocating for the lab as a whole, because that reimbursement impacts all of us. And another one of the big impacts, the same 26%, was an increased turnaround time. And obviously turnaround time is always very important to us. We know there's a patient on the other end waiting for those results.
Dr. Black-Shaffer says the good news is that hiring is starting to look better.
Many practices are looking to recruit a substantial fraction of their current workforce, and they are being noticeably more flexible in the qualifications they're looking for. And that bespeaks a real, which is good in a sense. a real demand for pathology services.
And who's getting hired?
We've asked for a long time what the principal thing practice leaders are looking for is, the most significant single thing in the people they're looking to hire. And this time around, general anatomic and clinical pathology competency was far and away The most common thing that people really wanted, it was more than double the percentage of the next highest subspecialty, which is what things people have typically thought. If I'm looking to get a job, it's going to be based on the subspecialty I bring to that position. And that's clearly turned a corner.
For more on these and other interesting takeaways from the survey, visit CAP.org next week to read the full report. And for all you practice leaders out there, thank you for returning the survey. A new study in Curious shows that bacteriological profiling of post-mortem blood cultures can be a useful diagnostic tool for autopsies. Historically, autopsies haven't emphasized bacteria because of challenges in differentiating between true infection and post-mortem contamination or bacterial growth. In the study, Researchers examined heart blood samples from 100 autopsy cases with unnatural causes of death, excluding cases of septicemia and putrefaction. They concluded that the cause of death significantly influences post-mortem blood culture results, with higher positivity in deaths caused by disease. But they noted that blood tests need to be used in conjunction with other autopsy findings to be helpful. The CAP Foundation's Global Pathology Committee is hosting a three-part webinar series on enhancing laboratory management operations. The complimentary webinars will provide a general introduction to quality management topics, including basic laboratory management processes, communication practices that develop successful teams, Laboratory Compliance and Risk Management. The first 60-minute session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. It will focus on building a quality management system while managing laboratory operations and critical communication practices for lab leaders. Register at foundation.cap.org. Finally, Dr. Jason Scapa, chair of the CAP Digital Content Committee, was featured in a Q&A interview in The Pathologist about the CAP's podcast series, Case Encounters, which was released in February. In case you haven't encountered it, Case Encounters is an eight-episode series that transforms real pathology cases into gripping, fictionalized stories, like a classic radio drama. Here's how Dr. Scapa described it to me. Would you consider these medical mysteries?
Yeah, some of them are medical mysteries. Some are infectious disease-based, some are anatomic pathology-based, some are laboratory-based, and some are forensic-based. And so they all involve patient families kind of left uncertain of what is going on in the patient or what led to the cause of death. And it's the pathologists of this fictitious a pathology consulting or pathology firm that is rendering diagnoses and solving the mysteries of these cases.
Each case came from a CAP member and every character is voiced by a CAP member pathologist. The committee launched the series as a creative way to highlight the essential role pathologists play in health care. As Dr. Scapa said in the interview, The idea was to take the initiative to explain and showcase our field on our own terms. You can find Case Encounters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and OSHA. And that does it for us today. For more information on today's stories, check the show notes. And if you like our podcast, forward today's episode to a friend or colleague. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of The Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.
Description
April 17, 2026
Practice Surveys | College of American Pathologists
Enhancing Laboratory Management Operations Globally – CAP Foundation webinar
The Pathologist | Inside Pathology’s New Audio Drama
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Practice leaders weigh in. Testing post-mortem blood for bacteria and an upcoming CAP Foundation webinar. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Friday, April 17th. Seven out of 10 pathology practice leaders say their practice has been hurt by decreasing reimbursement rates. And of those, 26% reported that the cutbacks led to staffing reductions. That's one key finding from the CAP's annual Practice Leader Survey, which will be released next week. We spoke with Dr. W. Stephen Black-Shaffer, chair of the CAP Policy Roundtable Subcommittee, and Dr. Sarah Eakin. chair of the CAP's practice survey work group, about that finding and other results of the survey. Dr. Eakin noted that reimbursement cuts hit hardest among laboratory staff, and the damage isn't just to jobs.
I think it's important to note that when we're advocating for increased reimbursement, we're not just advocating for pathologists, we're advocating for the lab as a whole, because that reimbursement impacts all of us. And another one of the big impacts, the same 26%, was an increased turnaround time. And obviously turnaround time is always very important to us. We know there's a patient on the other end waiting for those results.
Dr. Black-Shaffer says the good news is that hiring is starting to look better.
Many practices are looking to recruit a substantial fraction of their current workforce, and they are being noticeably more flexible in the qualifications they're looking for. And that bespeaks a real, which is good in a sense. a real demand for pathology services.
And who's getting hired?
We've asked for a long time what the principal thing practice leaders are looking for is, the most significant single thing in the people they're looking to hire. And this time around, general anatomic and clinical pathology competency was far and away The most common thing that people really wanted, it was more than double the percentage of the next highest subspecialty, which is what things people have typically thought. If I'm looking to get a job, it's going to be based on the subspecialty I bring to that position. And that's clearly turned a corner.
For more on these and other interesting takeaways from the survey, visit CAP.org next week to read the full report. And for all you practice leaders out there, thank you for returning the survey. A new study in Curious shows that bacteriological profiling of post-mortem blood cultures can be a useful diagnostic tool for autopsies. Historically, autopsies haven't emphasized bacteria because of challenges in differentiating between true infection and post-mortem contamination or bacterial growth. In the study, Researchers examined heart blood samples from 100 autopsy cases with unnatural causes of death, excluding cases of septicemia and putrefaction. They concluded that the cause of death significantly influences post-mortem blood culture results, with higher positivity in deaths caused by disease. But they noted that blood tests need to be used in conjunction with other autopsy findings to be helpful. The CAP Foundation's Global Pathology Committee is hosting a three-part webinar series on enhancing laboratory management operations. The complimentary webinars will provide a general introduction to quality management topics, including basic laboratory management processes, communication practices that develop successful teams, Laboratory Compliance and Risk Management. The first 60-minute session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. It will focus on building a quality management system while managing laboratory operations and critical communication practices for lab leaders. Register at foundation.cap.org. Finally, Dr. Jason Scapa, chair of the CAP Digital Content Committee, was featured in a Q&A interview in The Pathologist about the CAP's podcast series, Case Encounters, which was released in February. In case you haven't encountered it, Case Encounters is an eight-episode series that transforms real pathology cases into gripping, fictionalized stories, like a classic radio drama. Here's how Dr. Scapa described it to me. Would you consider these medical mysteries?
Yeah, some of them are medical mysteries. Some are infectious disease-based, some are anatomic pathology-based, some are laboratory-based, and some are forensic-based. And so they all involve patient families kind of left uncertain of what is going on in the patient or what led to the cause of death. And it's the pathologists of this fictitious a pathology consulting or pathology firm that is rendering diagnoses and solving the mysteries of these cases.
Each case came from a CAP member and every character is voiced by a CAP member pathologist. The committee launched the series as a creative way to highlight the essential role pathologists play in health care. As Dr. Scapa said in the interview, The idea was to take the initiative to explain and showcase our field on our own terms. You can find Case Encounters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and OSHA. And that does it for us today. For more information on today's stories, check the show notes. And if you like our podcast, forward today's episode to a friend or colleague. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of The Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.
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April 17, 2026
Practice Surveys | College of American Pathologists
Enhancing Laboratory Management Operations Globally – CAP Foundation webinar
The Pathologist | Inside Pathology’s New Audio Drama
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Practice leaders weigh in. Testing post-mortem blood for bacteria and an upcoming CAP Foundation webinar. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Friday, April 17th. Seven out of 10 pathology practice leaders say their practice has been hurt by decreasing reimbursement rates. And of those, 26% reported that the cutbacks led to staffing reductions. That's one key finding from the CAP's annual Practice Leader Survey, which will be released next week. We spoke with Dr. W. Stephen Black-Shaffer, chair of the CAP Policy Roundtable Subcommittee, and Dr. Sarah Eakin. chair of the CAP's practice survey work group, about that finding and other results of the survey. Dr. Eakin noted that reimbursement cuts hit hardest among laboratory staff, and the damage isn't just to jobs.
I think it's important to note that when we're advocating for increased reimbursement, we're not just advocating for pathologists, we're advocating for the lab as a whole, because that reimbursement impacts all of us. And another one of the big impacts, the same 26%, was an increased turnaround time. And obviously turnaround time is always very important to us. We know there's a patient on the other end waiting for those results.
Dr. Black-Shaffer says the good news is that hiring is starting to look better.
Many practices are looking to recruit a substantial fraction of their current workforce, and they are being noticeably more flexible in the qualifications they're looking for. And that bespeaks a real, which is good in a sense. a real demand for pathology services.
And who's getting hired?
We've asked for a long time what the principal thing practice leaders are looking for is, the most significant single thing in the people they're looking to hire. And this time around, general anatomic and clinical pathology competency was far and away The most common thing that people really wanted, it was more than double the percentage of the next highest subspecialty, which is what things people have typically thought. If I'm looking to get a job, it's going to be based on the subspecialty I bring to that position. And that's clearly turned a corner.
For more on these and other interesting takeaways from the survey, visit CAP.org next week to read the full report. And for all you practice leaders out there, thank you for returning the survey. A new study in Curious shows that bacteriological profiling of post-mortem blood cultures can be a useful diagnostic tool for autopsies. Historically, autopsies haven't emphasized bacteria because of challenges in differentiating between true infection and post-mortem contamination or bacterial growth. In the study, Researchers examined heart blood samples from 100 autopsy cases with unnatural causes of death, excluding cases of septicemia and putrefaction. They concluded that the cause of death significantly influences post-mortem blood culture results, with higher positivity in deaths caused by disease. But they noted that blood tests need to be used in conjunction with other autopsy findings to be helpful. The CAP Foundation's Global Pathology Committee is hosting a three-part webinar series on enhancing laboratory management operations. The complimentary webinars will provide a general introduction to quality management topics, including basic laboratory management processes, communication practices that develop successful teams, Laboratory Compliance and Risk Management. The first 60-minute session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. It will focus on building a quality management system while managing laboratory operations and critical communication practices for lab leaders. Register at foundation.cap.org. Finally, Dr. Jason Scapa, chair of the CAP Digital Content Committee, was featured in a Q&A interview in The Pathologist about the CAP's podcast series, Case Encounters, which was released in February. In case you haven't encountered it, Case Encounters is an eight-episode series that transforms real pathology cases into gripping, fictionalized stories, like a classic radio drama. Here's how Dr. Scapa described it to me. Would you consider these medical mysteries?
Yeah, some of them are medical mysteries. Some are infectious disease-based, some are anatomic pathology-based, some are laboratory-based, and some are forensic-based. And so they all involve patient families kind of left uncertain of what is going on in the patient or what led to the cause of death. And it's the pathologists of this fictitious a pathology consulting or pathology firm that is rendering diagnoses and solving the mysteries of these cases.
Each case came from a CAP member and every character is voiced by a CAP member pathologist. The committee launched the series as a creative way to highlight the essential role pathologists play in health care. As Dr. Scapa said in the interview, The idea was to take the initiative to explain and showcase our field on our own terms. You can find Case Encounters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and OSHA. And that does it for us today. For more information on today's stories, check the show notes. And if you like our podcast, forward today's episode to a friend or colleague. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of The Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.
Description
April 17, 2026
Practice Surveys | College of American Pathologists
Enhancing Laboratory Management Operations Globally – CAP Foundation webinar
The Pathologist | Inside Pathology’s New Audio Drama
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Practice leaders weigh in. Testing post-mortem blood for bacteria and an upcoming CAP Foundation webinar. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Friday, April 17th. Seven out of 10 pathology practice leaders say their practice has been hurt by decreasing reimbursement rates. And of those, 26% reported that the cutbacks led to staffing reductions. That's one key finding from the CAP's annual Practice Leader Survey, which will be released next week. We spoke with Dr. W. Stephen Black-Shaffer, chair of the CAP Policy Roundtable Subcommittee, and Dr. Sarah Eakin. chair of the CAP's practice survey work group, about that finding and other results of the survey. Dr. Eakin noted that reimbursement cuts hit hardest among laboratory staff, and the damage isn't just to jobs.
I think it's important to note that when we're advocating for increased reimbursement, we're not just advocating for pathologists, we're advocating for the lab as a whole, because that reimbursement impacts all of us. And another one of the big impacts, the same 26%, was an increased turnaround time. And obviously turnaround time is always very important to us. We know there's a patient on the other end waiting for those results.
Dr. Black-Shaffer says the good news is that hiring is starting to look better.
Many practices are looking to recruit a substantial fraction of their current workforce, and they are being noticeably more flexible in the qualifications they're looking for. And that bespeaks a real, which is good in a sense. a real demand for pathology services.
And who's getting hired?
We've asked for a long time what the principal thing practice leaders are looking for is, the most significant single thing in the people they're looking to hire. And this time around, general anatomic and clinical pathology competency was far and away The most common thing that people really wanted, it was more than double the percentage of the next highest subspecialty, which is what things people have typically thought. If I'm looking to get a job, it's going to be based on the subspecialty I bring to that position. And that's clearly turned a corner.
For more on these and other interesting takeaways from the survey, visit CAP.org next week to read the full report. And for all you practice leaders out there, thank you for returning the survey. A new study in Curious shows that bacteriological profiling of post-mortem blood cultures can be a useful diagnostic tool for autopsies. Historically, autopsies haven't emphasized bacteria because of challenges in differentiating between true infection and post-mortem contamination or bacterial growth. In the study, Researchers examined heart blood samples from 100 autopsy cases with unnatural causes of death, excluding cases of septicemia and putrefaction. They concluded that the cause of death significantly influences post-mortem blood culture results, with higher positivity in deaths caused by disease. But they noted that blood tests need to be used in conjunction with other autopsy findings to be helpful. The CAP Foundation's Global Pathology Committee is hosting a three-part webinar series on enhancing laboratory management operations. The complimentary webinars will provide a general introduction to quality management topics, including basic laboratory management processes, communication practices that develop successful teams, Laboratory Compliance and Risk Management. The first 60-minute session is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. It will focus on building a quality management system while managing laboratory operations and critical communication practices for lab leaders. Register at foundation.cap.org. Finally, Dr. Jason Scapa, chair of the CAP Digital Content Committee, was featured in a Q&A interview in The Pathologist about the CAP's podcast series, Case Encounters, which was released in February. In case you haven't encountered it, Case Encounters is an eight-episode series that transforms real pathology cases into gripping, fictionalized stories, like a classic radio drama. Here's how Dr. Scapa described it to me. Would you consider these medical mysteries?
Yeah, some of them are medical mysteries. Some are infectious disease-based, some are anatomic pathology-based, some are laboratory-based, and some are forensic-based. And so they all involve patient families kind of left uncertain of what is going on in the patient or what led to the cause of death. And it's the pathologists of this fictitious a pathology consulting or pathology firm that is rendering diagnoses and solving the mysteries of these cases.
Each case came from a CAP member and every character is voiced by a CAP member pathologist. The committee launched the series as a creative way to highlight the essential role pathologists play in health care. As Dr. Scapa said in the interview, The idea was to take the initiative to explain and showcase our field on our own terms. You can find Case Encounters on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and OSHA. And that does it for us today. For more information on today's stories, check the show notes. And if you like our podcast, forward today's episode to a friend or colleague. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of The Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.
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