- Nancy Johnson
Pathologists are heading to Capitol Hill in April to make their voices heard.
- Dr. Joe Saad
With all the dysfunction and all the noise and all the racket that's going on, it really is refreshing to experience going to the Hill and meeting with your elected representatives. They will listen to you. You're a constituent.
- Nancy Johnson
Hear more from Dr. Joe Saad on the top issues members will take to lawmakers. This story and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nancy Johnson. It's Monday, March 9th. Rising costs for laboratory supplies, staffing, and overhead are making it harder for pathologists and laboratories to operate. At the same time, new health care policies in Washington are adding to the economic pressures of running a physician practice. Dr. Joe Saad chairs the Council on Government and Professional Affairs, and said these are critical issues pathologists will raise with lawmakers in April at Hill Day.
- Dr. Joe Saad
We need to bring our message to the Hill that this is about patient care, it's about access to care, it's about access to medications, and ultimately it comes down to them being able to afford health care and for physicians being able to afford the practice in this health care system.
- Nancy Johnson
A new Medicare rule this year cuts what physicians, including pathologists, are paid by 2.5%.
- Dr. Joe Saad
Generally, physicians get a cut and it's not sustainable. The cost of providing that care is going up. The overhead is going up. We see inflation. It's affecting our staffing. It's affecting our supplies. It's affecting our rent. Inflation is hitting us hard and our reimbursement is going down.
- Nancy Johnson
The House of Delegates Pathologist Leadership Summit is happening April 26th through the 29th in Washington, culminating in Hill Day. This is the chance for pathologists to get in front of their congressional leaders and advocate for themselves and their patients.
- Dr. Joe Saad
So they will listen. We don't always get the results that we want, but if we don't try, we have wasted the privilege of living in a democratic country where this is our right.
- Nancy Johnson
Join a CAP webinar tomorrow afternoon to get a sneak peek at the issues and find out how to prepare for Hill Day. Stay tuned in the weeks ahead as we hear from more members and their plans to get these important issues in front of Congress. A new study suggests a blood test could help identify people at risk for Crohn's disease years before symptoms appear. According to a Medscape story, Researchers found that some healthy people at higher risk for Crohn's have unusual antibodies in their blood that react to proteins from common gut bacteria. Those proteins, called flagellins, help bacteria move. So if the immune system is reacting to them, it suggests something may already be going wrong in the body before a patient is symptomatic. Scientists say the finding could one day help doctors spot and treat Crohn's disease earlier. The CAP Foundation is highlighting a special episode of its podcast, Beyond the Test, Connecting Communities Through Pathology. In this episode, high school volunteer Elsa leads a conversation with Bella and Gabby about their mission trips to North Chicago and the Dominican Republic. They reflect on how working and playing with children helped raise awareness about mental health while shaping their own personal growth. Here's a moment from this episode of the podcast, Mindful Minutes.
- Elsa
So Bella, how does it make you feel that you weren't only doing physical labor, but also reducing stressors in some families' lives?
- Bella
I think that it's a cool thing that I got to be a part of. While I did enjoy like the physical like working part I also did it because I wanted to serve people show love to them and this is kind of a not super exciting way of doing it but I'm glad that I was able to help families and children and maybe brighten their future a little or their day.
- Nancy Johnson
Foundation leaders say that even when a conversation isn't directly about pathology, it still reflects a core idea in medicine. Understanding health means looking beyond a single diagnosis to factors like environment, community, and support systems. And finally, when you look closely at cells under the microscope, Do you ever find... unexpected beauty in them? Pathologists are invited to showcase the artistic side of their work through the CAP's Path Art of the Month program. One striking pathology image is selected to highlight the patterns and visual beauty found in everyday diagnostic specimens. February's featured image is Blue Noise in the Plural Space by Dr. Saroja Devi Geetha. Submissions are due by the first of each month. And the contest runs through September. That's all for today. Be sure to check the show notes for more information on today's stories. Watch your email inbox for more news like this in the CAP's advocacy newsletter every Tuesday and our weekly edition newsletter on Thursdays. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of The Daily Edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great day.