Description
August 19, 2025
CAP to Congress: Protect cancer research funding
Fireside Chat: Towards a Patient-Centered Pathology Report
Urge Congress to support preserving the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC
Watch: The Proposed 2026 Medicare Policy and Payment Changes for Pathologists
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Cancer research funding is at risk. How CAP members can take action. Plus, how pathologists can move toward patient-centered pathology reports. 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, August 19th. Here is the latest news. President Trump's fiscal year budget proposes eliminating the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The CAP has warned Congress that eliminating the division would undermine screening efforts, delay early detection, and slow progress in reducing cancer. CAP members can use the Action Alert Center to call on Congress to protect critical research funding. The Food and Drug Administration has formally rescinded its laboratory-developed test regulation after a defeat in court. In 2024, the FDA adopted the regulation, which applied to all LDTs created by labs in the United States. In March 2025, a U.S. District Court struck down the rule, and the FDA did not appeal. The CAP has answers to your questions about the proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule. Watch our On Demand webinar on the CAP's YouTube channel. Finally, making pathology reports more patient-centered could be a game-changer in healthcare. Joining me today is Dr. Diana Cardona, Vice Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs at the CAP, to discuss what this would mean for pathologists and their patients. Dr. Cardona, thank you for joining us today. You've done a lot of work around making pathology reports more patient-centered.
So I've been really fortunate within the College of American Pathologists to get involved in work around that question. How can we serve our patients better? And so we did a small little study in which we enlisted information from patients with colorectal cancer asking them what would make a difference for them. And I'll be honest, early on, I thought I was going to hear that. OK, you just kind of summarize this for me. Can you put this in layman terms? But it was actually quite opposite. What our patients are asking of us is to teach them. So. That's a prime opportunity for us to educate them, provide them context as far as what the report really means. They didn't want us to change the language. They really wanted us to educate them because the language that we use in our reports are oftentimes the language that their care providers are going to be using, too.
You mentioned the opportunity to provide context, and we live in a time now where patients often see their reports first. How would you change the report to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results?
So we kind of presented the patients with a couple of different ideas. You know, one of it was, well, what if we gave you the report, but then also gave you a summary paragraph of what the report meant? Another one was like, well, maybe we embed relevant, you know, terms, but a glossary of those terms that they could say, all right, well, this word adenocarcinoma, let's say, what does that really mean? Right. And we could start defining those words for them, which they loved. But the one that they loved the most was, OK, provide them that glossary of terms that they can start learning and start educating themselves about what those words really mean, but then providing them additional resources. And so we would give them a list of websites like American Cancer Society, maybe Colorectal Alliance or things like that for them to start. digging and doing some additional research beyond, you know, Dr. Google, so to speak, which can be sometimes a little bit even scarier for patients once they start, you know, trying to Google information on their own. And then the last piece, which we didn't really share with them in any of the example reports, but they mentioned as maybe additional items that would be helpful was how should they prepare for that next appointment?
I love that. How would this approach to pathology reports advance health care?
Yeah. So another part of the project that we did within the CAP was, OK, well, now that we got this feedback from patients, you know, we wanted to know what do pathologists think about it? But then what about our other clinical colleagues? Would they be offended if we started doing additional things in our reports? Would we be stepping on toes, so to speak? Because that was one of the concerns raised by some of the pathologists, like, well, I don't know if my surgeon wants them, you know, wants me to be doing this additional stuff. And so we created these technical expert panels where there was a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a primary care, a GI doc, et cetera, part of this multidisciplinary group. And we asked them, essentially shared with them what we learned from the patients. But then also ask them, what do you think about it? And it was a resounding, we love it. This would help us, right? If our patients come in already at a higher base understanding, it enables our conversations to go where they need to go much more quickly, have our patients be more engaged in those discussions, and then also feel better informed to make kind of meaningful decisions based on. what they already learned because of what was provided in their pathology report, and then guided by discussions that they had with their primary care or surgeons, etc. So they really thought it was going to be quite beneficial.
And you're also hosting a fireside chat coming up in just a few weeks at CAP25. Tell our members what to expect.
So as you mentioned, in Orlando at the annual meeting, we'll have a session just focused on how should pathologists start thinking about about delivering patient-centered pathology reporting. And, you know, we're trying to keep in mind that we want this to be done in a very not burdensome way, right? Because if it's going to be a lot of additional work for individuals, then it's not going to happen. It's not going to be successful. And it's not intended for us to add one more thing to someone's plate. And so I really would love this discussion really to be an open discussion of folks either sharing what they're already doing, because there are a lot of people working on this already, or even start brainstorming what are ideas that we could start working on, whether it's the CAP or working with other societies on building those tools so that pathologists could readily use them and access them. So for example, building that glossary of terms, could we embed that in our cancer checklist already, so it's not an additional lift for the pathologist, but they know that they get the benefit of it of already having that included in their synoptic reports.
Thank you again, Dr. Cardona, for joining me. That's all for today on the Path News Network Daily Edition, powered by the College of American Pathologists. Get more news like this in our member newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe to the Path News Network on your favorite podcast platform. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. I'm Brittani Riddle. Thank you for listening.
Description
August 19, 2025
CAP to Congress: Protect cancer research funding
Fireside Chat: Towards a Patient-Centered Pathology Report
Urge Congress to support preserving the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC
Watch: The Proposed 2026 Medicare Policy and Payment Changes for Pathologists
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Cancer research funding is at risk. How CAP members can take action. Plus, how pathologists can move toward patient-centered pathology reports. 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, August 19th. Here is the latest news. President Trump's fiscal year budget proposes eliminating the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The CAP has warned Congress that eliminating the division would undermine screening efforts, delay early detection, and slow progress in reducing cancer. CAP members can use the Action Alert Center to call on Congress to protect critical research funding. The Food and Drug Administration has formally rescinded its laboratory-developed test regulation after a defeat in court. In 2024, the FDA adopted the regulation, which applied to all LDTs created by labs in the United States. In March 2025, a U.S. District Court struck down the rule, and the FDA did not appeal. The CAP has answers to your questions about the proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule. Watch our On Demand webinar on the CAP's YouTube channel. Finally, making pathology reports more patient-centered could be a game-changer in healthcare. Joining me today is Dr. Diana Cardona, Vice Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs at the CAP, to discuss what this would mean for pathologists and their patients. Dr. Cardona, thank you for joining us today. You've done a lot of work around making pathology reports more patient-centered.
So I've been really fortunate within the College of American Pathologists to get involved in work around that question. How can we serve our patients better? And so we did a small little study in which we enlisted information from patients with colorectal cancer asking them what would make a difference for them. And I'll be honest, early on, I thought I was going to hear that. OK, you just kind of summarize this for me. Can you put this in layman terms? But it was actually quite opposite. What our patients are asking of us is to teach them. So. That's a prime opportunity for us to educate them, provide them context as far as what the report really means. They didn't want us to change the language. They really wanted us to educate them because the language that we use in our reports are oftentimes the language that their care providers are going to be using, too.
You mentioned the opportunity to provide context, and we live in a time now where patients often see their reports first. How would you change the report to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results?
So we kind of presented the patients with a couple of different ideas. You know, one of it was, well, what if we gave you the report, but then also gave you a summary paragraph of what the report meant? Another one was like, well, maybe we embed relevant, you know, terms, but a glossary of those terms that they could say, all right, well, this word adenocarcinoma, let's say, what does that really mean? Right. And we could start defining those words for them, which they loved. But the one that they loved the most was, OK, provide them that glossary of terms that they can start learning and start educating themselves about what those words really mean, but then providing them additional resources. And so we would give them a list of websites like American Cancer Society, maybe Colorectal Alliance or things like that for them to start. digging and doing some additional research beyond, you know, Dr. Google, so to speak, which can be sometimes a little bit even scarier for patients once they start, you know, trying to Google information on their own. And then the last piece, which we didn't really share with them in any of the example reports, but they mentioned as maybe additional items that would be helpful was how should they prepare for that next appointment?
I love that. How would this approach to pathology reports advance health care?
Yeah. So another part of the project that we did within the CAP was, OK, well, now that we got this feedback from patients, you know, we wanted to know what do pathologists think about it? But then what about our other clinical colleagues? Would they be offended if we started doing additional things in our reports? Would we be stepping on toes, so to speak? Because that was one of the concerns raised by some of the pathologists, like, well, I don't know if my surgeon wants them, you know, wants me to be doing this additional stuff. And so we created these technical expert panels where there was a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a primary care, a GI doc, et cetera, part of this multidisciplinary group. And we asked them, essentially shared with them what we learned from the patients. But then also ask them, what do you think about it? And it was a resounding, we love it. This would help us, right? If our patients come in already at a higher base understanding, it enables our conversations to go where they need to go much more quickly, have our patients be more engaged in those discussions, and then also feel better informed to make kind of meaningful decisions based on. what they already learned because of what was provided in their pathology report, and then guided by discussions that they had with their primary care or surgeons, etc. So they really thought it was going to be quite beneficial.
And you're also hosting a fireside chat coming up in just a few weeks at CAP25. Tell our members what to expect.
So as you mentioned, in Orlando at the annual meeting, we'll have a session just focused on how should pathologists start thinking about about delivering patient-centered pathology reporting. And, you know, we're trying to keep in mind that we want this to be done in a very not burdensome way, right? Because if it's going to be a lot of additional work for individuals, then it's not going to happen. It's not going to be successful. And it's not intended for us to add one more thing to someone's plate. And so I really would love this discussion really to be an open discussion of folks either sharing what they're already doing, because there are a lot of people working on this already, or even start brainstorming what are ideas that we could start working on, whether it's the CAP or working with other societies on building those tools so that pathologists could readily use them and access them. So for example, building that glossary of terms, could we embed that in our cancer checklist already, so it's not an additional lift for the pathologist, but they know that they get the benefit of it of already having that included in their synoptic reports.
Thank you again, Dr. Cardona, for joining me. That's all for today on the Path News Network Daily Edition, powered by the College of American Pathologists. Get more news like this in our member newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe to the Path News Network on your favorite podcast platform. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. I'm Brittani Riddle. Thank you for listening.
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Description
August 19, 2025
CAP to Congress: Protect cancer research funding
Fireside Chat: Towards a Patient-Centered Pathology Report
Urge Congress to support preserving the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC
Watch: The Proposed 2026 Medicare Policy and Payment Changes for Pathologists
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Cancer research funding is at risk. How CAP members can take action. Plus, how pathologists can move toward patient-centered pathology reports. 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, August 19th. Here is the latest news. President Trump's fiscal year budget proposes eliminating the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The CAP has warned Congress that eliminating the division would undermine screening efforts, delay early detection, and slow progress in reducing cancer. CAP members can use the Action Alert Center to call on Congress to protect critical research funding. The Food and Drug Administration has formally rescinded its laboratory-developed test regulation after a defeat in court. In 2024, the FDA adopted the regulation, which applied to all LDTs created by labs in the United States. In March 2025, a U.S. District Court struck down the rule, and the FDA did not appeal. The CAP has answers to your questions about the proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule. Watch our On Demand webinar on the CAP's YouTube channel. Finally, making pathology reports more patient-centered could be a game-changer in healthcare. Joining me today is Dr. Diana Cardona, Vice Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs at the CAP, to discuss what this would mean for pathologists and their patients. Dr. Cardona, thank you for joining us today. You've done a lot of work around making pathology reports more patient-centered.
So I've been really fortunate within the College of American Pathologists to get involved in work around that question. How can we serve our patients better? And so we did a small little study in which we enlisted information from patients with colorectal cancer asking them what would make a difference for them. And I'll be honest, early on, I thought I was going to hear that. OK, you just kind of summarize this for me. Can you put this in layman terms? But it was actually quite opposite. What our patients are asking of us is to teach them. So. That's a prime opportunity for us to educate them, provide them context as far as what the report really means. They didn't want us to change the language. They really wanted us to educate them because the language that we use in our reports are oftentimes the language that their care providers are going to be using, too.
You mentioned the opportunity to provide context, and we live in a time now where patients often see their reports first. How would you change the report to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results?
So we kind of presented the patients with a couple of different ideas. You know, one of it was, well, what if we gave you the report, but then also gave you a summary paragraph of what the report meant? Another one was like, well, maybe we embed relevant, you know, terms, but a glossary of those terms that they could say, all right, well, this word adenocarcinoma, let's say, what does that really mean? Right. And we could start defining those words for them, which they loved. But the one that they loved the most was, OK, provide them that glossary of terms that they can start learning and start educating themselves about what those words really mean, but then providing them additional resources. And so we would give them a list of websites like American Cancer Society, maybe Colorectal Alliance or things like that for them to start. digging and doing some additional research beyond, you know, Dr. Google, so to speak, which can be sometimes a little bit even scarier for patients once they start, you know, trying to Google information on their own. And then the last piece, which we didn't really share with them in any of the example reports, but they mentioned as maybe additional items that would be helpful was how should they prepare for that next appointment?
I love that. How would this approach to pathology reports advance health care?
Yeah. So another part of the project that we did within the CAP was, OK, well, now that we got this feedback from patients, you know, we wanted to know what do pathologists think about it? But then what about our other clinical colleagues? Would they be offended if we started doing additional things in our reports? Would we be stepping on toes, so to speak? Because that was one of the concerns raised by some of the pathologists, like, well, I don't know if my surgeon wants them, you know, wants me to be doing this additional stuff. And so we created these technical expert panels where there was a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a primary care, a GI doc, et cetera, part of this multidisciplinary group. And we asked them, essentially shared with them what we learned from the patients. But then also ask them, what do you think about it? And it was a resounding, we love it. This would help us, right? If our patients come in already at a higher base understanding, it enables our conversations to go where they need to go much more quickly, have our patients be more engaged in those discussions, and then also feel better informed to make kind of meaningful decisions based on. what they already learned because of what was provided in their pathology report, and then guided by discussions that they had with their primary care or surgeons, etc. So they really thought it was going to be quite beneficial.
And you're also hosting a fireside chat coming up in just a few weeks at CAP25. Tell our members what to expect.
So as you mentioned, in Orlando at the annual meeting, we'll have a session just focused on how should pathologists start thinking about about delivering patient-centered pathology reporting. And, you know, we're trying to keep in mind that we want this to be done in a very not burdensome way, right? Because if it's going to be a lot of additional work for individuals, then it's not going to happen. It's not going to be successful. And it's not intended for us to add one more thing to someone's plate. And so I really would love this discussion really to be an open discussion of folks either sharing what they're already doing, because there are a lot of people working on this already, or even start brainstorming what are ideas that we could start working on, whether it's the CAP or working with other societies on building those tools so that pathologists could readily use them and access them. So for example, building that glossary of terms, could we embed that in our cancer checklist already, so it's not an additional lift for the pathologist, but they know that they get the benefit of it of already having that included in their synoptic reports.
Thank you again, Dr. Cardona, for joining me. That's all for today on the Path News Network Daily Edition, powered by the College of American Pathologists. Get more news like this in our member newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe to the Path News Network on your favorite podcast platform. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. I'm Brittani Riddle. Thank you for listening.
Description
August 19, 2025
CAP to Congress: Protect cancer research funding
Fireside Chat: Towards a Patient-Centered Pathology Report
Urge Congress to support preserving the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC
Watch: The Proposed 2026 Medicare Policy and Payment Changes for Pathologists
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Transcription
Cancer research funding is at risk. How CAP members can take action. Plus, how pathologists can move toward patient-centered pathology reports. 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, August 19th. Here is the latest news. President Trump's fiscal year budget proposes eliminating the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. The CAP has warned Congress that eliminating the division would undermine screening efforts, delay early detection, and slow progress in reducing cancer. CAP members can use the Action Alert Center to call on Congress to protect critical research funding. The Food and Drug Administration has formally rescinded its laboratory-developed test regulation after a defeat in court. In 2024, the FDA adopted the regulation, which applied to all LDTs created by labs in the United States. In March 2025, a U.S. District Court struck down the rule, and the FDA did not appeal. The CAP has answers to your questions about the proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule. Watch our On Demand webinar on the CAP's YouTube channel. Finally, making pathology reports more patient-centered could be a game-changer in healthcare. Joining me today is Dr. Diana Cardona, Vice Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs at the CAP, to discuss what this would mean for pathologists and their patients. Dr. Cardona, thank you for joining us today. You've done a lot of work around making pathology reports more patient-centered.
So I've been really fortunate within the College of American Pathologists to get involved in work around that question. How can we serve our patients better? And so we did a small little study in which we enlisted information from patients with colorectal cancer asking them what would make a difference for them. And I'll be honest, early on, I thought I was going to hear that. OK, you just kind of summarize this for me. Can you put this in layman terms? But it was actually quite opposite. What our patients are asking of us is to teach them. So. That's a prime opportunity for us to educate them, provide them context as far as what the report really means. They didn't want us to change the language. They really wanted us to educate them because the language that we use in our reports are oftentimes the language that their care providers are going to be using, too.
You mentioned the opportunity to provide context, and we live in a time now where patients often see their reports first. How would you change the report to prevent patients from misunderstanding their results?
So we kind of presented the patients with a couple of different ideas. You know, one of it was, well, what if we gave you the report, but then also gave you a summary paragraph of what the report meant? Another one was like, well, maybe we embed relevant, you know, terms, but a glossary of those terms that they could say, all right, well, this word adenocarcinoma, let's say, what does that really mean? Right. And we could start defining those words for them, which they loved. But the one that they loved the most was, OK, provide them that glossary of terms that they can start learning and start educating themselves about what those words really mean, but then providing them additional resources. And so we would give them a list of websites like American Cancer Society, maybe Colorectal Alliance or things like that for them to start. digging and doing some additional research beyond, you know, Dr. Google, so to speak, which can be sometimes a little bit even scarier for patients once they start, you know, trying to Google information on their own. And then the last piece, which we didn't really share with them in any of the example reports, but they mentioned as maybe additional items that would be helpful was how should they prepare for that next appointment?
I love that. How would this approach to pathology reports advance health care?
Yeah. So another part of the project that we did within the CAP was, OK, well, now that we got this feedback from patients, you know, we wanted to know what do pathologists think about it? But then what about our other clinical colleagues? Would they be offended if we started doing additional things in our reports? Would we be stepping on toes, so to speak? Because that was one of the concerns raised by some of the pathologists, like, well, I don't know if my surgeon wants them, you know, wants me to be doing this additional stuff. And so we created these technical expert panels where there was a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a primary care, a GI doc, et cetera, part of this multidisciplinary group. And we asked them, essentially shared with them what we learned from the patients. But then also ask them, what do you think about it? And it was a resounding, we love it. This would help us, right? If our patients come in already at a higher base understanding, it enables our conversations to go where they need to go much more quickly, have our patients be more engaged in those discussions, and then also feel better informed to make kind of meaningful decisions based on. what they already learned because of what was provided in their pathology report, and then guided by discussions that they had with their primary care or surgeons, etc. So they really thought it was going to be quite beneficial.
And you're also hosting a fireside chat coming up in just a few weeks at CAP25. Tell our members what to expect.
So as you mentioned, in Orlando at the annual meeting, we'll have a session just focused on how should pathologists start thinking about about delivering patient-centered pathology reporting. And, you know, we're trying to keep in mind that we want this to be done in a very not burdensome way, right? Because if it's going to be a lot of additional work for individuals, then it's not going to happen. It's not going to be successful. And it's not intended for us to add one more thing to someone's plate. And so I really would love this discussion really to be an open discussion of folks either sharing what they're already doing, because there are a lot of people working on this already, or even start brainstorming what are ideas that we could start working on, whether it's the CAP or working with other societies on building those tools so that pathologists could readily use them and access them. So for example, building that glossary of terms, could we embed that in our cancer checklist already, so it's not an additional lift for the pathologist, but they know that they get the benefit of it of already having that included in their synoptic reports.
Thank you again, Dr. Cardona, for joining me. That's all for today on the Path News Network Daily Edition, powered by the College of American Pathologists. Get more news like this in our member newsletters on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Subscribe to the Path News Network on your favorite podcast platform. We're back tomorrow at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. I'm Brittani Riddle. Thank you for listening.
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