Transcription

• Brittani Riddle

  Act now to stop Medicare cuts to pathology services and learn how sending action alerts fuels the CAP's advocacy. Coming up next on the Path News Network. This is the Path News Network Daily Edition, powered by the College of American Pathologists. I'm Brittani Riddle. Today is Tuesday, October 7th. Here's the latest news. In just a few weeks, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will adopt a new policy that cuts Medicare payment for pathology services. Pathologists can act now to stop these unnecessary and burdensome cuts by sending an action alert. Visit the link in today's show notes to send your alert to stop the cuts. One week into the government shutdown and the CAP has resources for pathologists and laboratories. Visit CAP.org and read today's edition of Advocacy News for the latest guidance. Calling all presidents of state pathology societies. The CAP has a new state advocacy guide designed with you in mind. Our guide will help you navigate your state government and advocate on behalf of your society. Request your copy today at CAP.org. Take your lung diagnostic skills to the next level with a case-based, real-world learning experience at the Interactive Surgical Pathology Cases Lung Pathology Webinar on Wednesday, November 12th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, 12 p.m. Central. This case-based session is designed for those who practice surgical pathology in all settings. Register today using the link in the show notes. Finally, hitting send on a CAP Action Alert is just one of the powerful tools for driving advocacy. With just a few clicks, pathologists can contact lawmakers to protect laboratory medicine. Here today is Dr. Purvi Patel, a neuropathologist at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Illinois, to discuss why that's important. Dr. Patel, thank you so much for joining me today. Protecting the practice of pathology is an important function of CAP advocacy. What do your colleagues need to understand about being active?

• Dr. Purvi Patel

  So as pathologists, we know how essential our work is to patient care, but too often our role is invisible outside the lab. CAP advocacy exists to protect that role, whether it's defending fare reimbursement, making sure only qualified physicians practice pathology, or pushing back against regulations that interfere with the patient care. Advocacy is how we make sure our voice is heard, like reforming Medicare payment system, eliminating regulatory burdens, preventing payments cut at written laboratory service, and maintaining professional standards. So being active doesn't mean we need to be on Capitol Hill or flying to Washington every week. It can be as simple as staying informed, responding to CAP action standards, sending a quick note to our legislator, or educating our clinical colleagues and hospital leaders about the value of pathology. So that's why we should become active in advocacy with CAP.

• Brittani Riddle

  I love that you talk about the importance of advocacy and how easy it is to really stay engaged. One of the tools we use to advocate are action alerts, which allows members to directly contact their lawmakers. For our members who haven't hit the send button just yet, how do action alerts make a difference?

• Dr. Purvi Patel

  Lawmakers listen to physicians from their own district. And when many of us respond, each of us takes small steps. And together we create a powerful collective message and unified voice that policymakers can't ignore and pay attention to it. Hitting that second button may feel small, but together those clicks shape real policy outcomes, protect our practice, and ultimately benefit our patients. Because the policies made today define how we practice tomorrow, advocacy isn't optional anymore.

• Brittani Riddle

  So how does the CAP's advocacy help improve access to newer diagnostic technologies and tests?

• Dr. Purvi Patel

  Yes, sure. So CAP pushes for fair coverage and smart regulations so labs can adopt molecular, genomic, and digital tests, bringing innovation to patients first. So CAP's advocacy plays a critical role in making sure patients have access to the latest diagnostic technologies. New tests like molecular assays, genomic profiling, or advanced imaging guided pathology or digital pathology often face barriers before they can reach to the patients. Those barriers may be regulatory such as CMS coverage decisions or financial like reimbursement cuts that make it unsustainable for labs to offer them.

• Brittani Riddle

  Thank you again to my guest, Dr. Patel, for joining me today. And congratulations to her for winning this year's CAP25 Advocacy Action Alert raffle. That's all for this edition of the PATH News Network. Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Get more news like this with our newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. I'm Brittani Riddle. Thank you for listening.