Transcription

• Brittani Riddle

  Act now to stop 15% Medicare payment cuts from hitting your labs and a preview of this week's virtual fly-in with CAP member Dr. Adam Booth coming up next on the PATH News Network. Welcome to the PATH News Network Daily Edition powered by the College of American Pathologists. Today is Tuesday, November 4th. I'm Brittani Riddle with the latest news. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule late last Friday evening. The schedule includes policies lowering pathology and other specialist pay. Read the CAP's full analysis at CAP.org. Medicare will cut fees for more than 800 clinical lab tests by 15 percent beginning January 1st unless Congress steps in. CAP members are joining the entire laboratory community in urging Congress to pass the Reforming and Enhancing Sustainable Updates to Laboratory Testing Services Act. Called the RESULTS Act, it would stop the 15% cuts and develop a new method for calculating clinical lab fees. Pathologists can use the CAP's Action Center to tell federal lawmakers to support the legislation. Do you have a personal story about how the cuts will affect your labs and patients? We want to hear from you. CAP members can share their stories with us by emailing media at cap.org with the subject line, my story, now until November 7th. Finally, with looming cuts to Medicare payments, tariffs, and other issues affecting laboratory medicine, advocacy remains a critical tool for pathologists. This week, CAP members in key congressional districts will take part in a virtual advocacy fly-in to advocate on behalf of the profession. Joining me to discuss how these meetings are essential to advocacy is Dr. Adam Booth, GI pathologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and a member of the CAP's Federal State Affairs Committee. Dr. Booth, welcome to Path News. Thank you for joining me. This week is the virtual fly-in. For those who aren't familiar, can you share a little more about what a virtual advocacy fly-in is and why it's such an important tool?

• Adam Booth

  Sure. A virtual fly-in is similar to all the other virtual meetings we routinely attend, you know, almost on a daily basis. And it really proceeds as simply as that. You know, you log in, you look at who you're meeting with, you can read the notes and prepare for that. And then just like on Hill Day, when we go to the office, we're just And here in this instance, we're just zooming into the office, so to speak. But it gives us an extra touch point. Earlier in the year, we have our Hill Day. And so this opportunity gives us another touch point with those legislators and policymakers to communicate the issues that are facing pathology, as well as continue those stories and issues that we've discussed with them in the past.

• Brittani Riddle

  What are some of the priority issues affecting pathologists and patients that will be highlighted during this year's fly-in?

• Adam Booth

  So a key issue is seeking support to pass the Results Act, and that's reforming and enhancing sustainable updates to laboratory testing services. And we need that done prior to the end of the year to prevent drastic cuts from happening that would take effect in January 2026 to the clinician laboratory fee schedule. And Medicare payment reform. And so we're urging members of Congress to pass legislation to provide a full annual inflationary update to the Medicare physician fee schedule. and modify the fee schedules budget neutrality requirements, hopefully, and try to mitigate some of the impacts of EULA or Medicaid cuts.

• Brittani Riddle

  You talked about advocating before. What advice would you give to someone who is joining a virtual fly-in for the first time?

• Adam Booth

  Well, one of the easiest ways with the click of a button, really, is the advocacy alerts that we send out. So as long as you're registered for PathNet, and I'm sure that information can be made readily available for you if you're not. You'll get those advocacy alerts as an email or a text message you can receive as well. They've made it very simple. And then you can go in and modify the letter if you'd like and sign your name, however you'd like to send it. And then you can send it off to your representatives. And then oftentimes you'll get a little letter back. But that's really the simplest way. I think you can do it in just a few clicks. A lot easier than signing out a case, probably.

• Brittani Riddle

  We are urging all CAP members to participate in tomorrow's fly-in. How can members who are not in the virtual meeting still lend their support and advocate?

• Adam Booth

  Yeah, I would first log into that Advocacy Day alert that you got, and so you can see your meetings, and you can see, you know, who's going to be attending those meetings with you. And then, you know, talk to those folks, those other pathologists, and coordinate, you know, who's going to say what, who's going to kind of speak about one issue, who's going to introduce things, and who's going to talk about, you know, what pathology is. And so kind of coordinate that out ahead of time, and so that you can plan and really come in there with an outline of what you're going to say and what you're going to do.

• Brittani Riddle

  Thank you again to Dr. Adam Booth for joining today's edition of the Path News Network. Find more on all of today's stories in the show notes and our member newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Thank you for listening.