Transcription

• Nick Lanyi

  The CAP comments on CRUSH, funding for residents to attend fall programs, and new evidence of the harm caused by Agent Orange. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network Daily Edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nick Lanyi. It's Tuesday, April 7th. The CAP responded to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' request for information regarding the agency's comprehensive regulations to uncover suspicious health care initiative, known by the acronym CRUSH. Some of CMS's policy changes could affect coverage, payment, and administrative requirements for laboratory services, particularly molecular diagnostics. The CAP expressed support for the initiative's goal of combating fraud and abuse. including inappropriate self-referrals, kickbacks, and testing without medical necessity. However, the CAP warned that overly broad policies could harm patient access and outcomes by penalizing compliant laboratories operating within coverage policies and clinical guidelines. Responding to a different CMS request for information, the CAP urged the agency to include lab supplies in a proposal to strengthen the domestic supply chain for personal protective equipment, or PPE, and essential medicines. The federal government wants to secure reliable access to critical medical supplies and reduce dependence on foreign manufacturing, building on initiatives launched during the COVID pandemic. In its response, the CAP said the program should include clinical laboratories, not just Medicare participating hospitals. During the pandemic, Clinical labs experience shortages of pipettes, glass slides, blue top test tubes, specimen acquisition swabs, and transport media, among other essential supplies. Pathology residents can apply for funding to attend one of the CAP's leadership development programs this fall. The award covers travel expenses up to $1,200 to attend the CAP Fall Residence Forum in Las Vegas on October 3rd, or registration fee expenses up to $400 for the CAP Engaged Leadership Academy in Northfield, Illinois in November. The CAP Foundation's Leadership Development Award aims to introduce pathology residents to the specialty's issues and leadership opportunities at the institutional, local, state, and national levels. Applicants must be actively enrolled in an accredited U.S. or Canadian pathology residency program. The application deadline is May 5th. Finally, 50 years after the end of the Vietnam War, one of its most notorious stories continues to unfold. A new study shows that the defoliant Agent Orange is associated with a category of blood cancers known as myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS. The U.S. military used Agent Orange, mixed with gasoline or kerosene, as a defoliant in Vietnam during much of the war. It contained dioxin and other toxic substances later shown to cause birth defects and a range of cancers. But this study, published in Blood Advances in March, is the first to link it to MDS. Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, Chief of Hematology at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami, launched the study after several veterans were developing MDS decades after serving in Vietnam. He found that Agent Orange's exposure was linked to earlier development and faster progression of the illness. That's it for today. For more information on today's stories, please see the show notes. And check your inbox for more news like this in the CAP's Advocacy Newsletter every Tuesday and our Weekly Edition Newsletter on Thursdays. We'll be back Wednesday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nick Lanyi. Have a wonderful day.