CAPcasts

This month we’ll be focusing on the VALID Act and its impact on laboratory developed tests. We sat down with CAP President Dr. Emily Volk to get some background on the legislation and what to expect moving forward.

Pathologists are responsible for developing safe and efficient blood selection policies for routine and emergency bleeding situations, in a variety of clinical scenarios and in different practice settings, explains Monica Pagano, MD, FCAP, in this CAPcast interview. Dr. Pagano is Medical Director, Transfusion Service Laboratory at the University of Washington Medical Center and led the development of a Clinical Pathology Improvement Program case-based course on this topic (https://capatholo.gy/3wglhvN).

This month we recognize National Minority health month, look at the request for additional COVID funding, learn about new efforts in pandemic preparedness, and review highlights from this year’s pathologists leadership summit with Vaishali Pansare, MD, FCAP.

We spoke with Jonathan Myles, MD, FCAP, Chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs. to get a preview of what to expect at this years' Pathologists Leadership Summit.

April is Head and Neck Cancer Awareness month. The National Cancer Institute estimates that head and neck cancers comprise 4% of cancers diagnosed each year. In 2021, more than 65,000 people impacted by newly diagnosed head and neck cancers. These cancers are diagnosed more often in women and also more often among people over age 50.

CAP Cancer Protocols play an important role in disease management, ensuring that all pathology reports contain necessary data elements to improve patient care. The CAP has nine protocols for head and neck related cancers (https://capatholo.gy/2OkNDkZ), as Raja Seethala, MD, FCAP, explains in this CAPcast episode. Dr. Seethala is Director of the Head and Neck/Endocrine Pathology Center of Excellence at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Seethala is also a member of the CAP Cancer Committee and Biomarker Committee serving as a subject matter expert on cancers of the head and neck.

It's one thing to talk about the advocacy pathologists engage in, but it's another to get started in that advocacy, especially in a time where getting in contact with elected officals can be more difficult than ever. Bekra Yorke, MD, FCAP, Houston Methodist Hospital Pathology invited three residents: Chiraag Gangahar, MD, FCAP, Ashley Holloman, MD, and Lukas Cara, MD, to participate in their first virtual fly in. We sat down with the four of them to discuss their experience and how other pathologists can work with the CAP to get involved in effective advocacy.

If you are a pathology resident (or a CAP fellow teaching residents), and would like to experience teachable moments like this, make sure you register for the Pathologists Leadership Summit which culminates with the CAP’s Hill Day on May 3. This year’s Hill Day is taking place virtually, so you can participate alongside colleagues, from the convenience of your home or office.

The financial lifeblood of a pathology group relies on the efficiency of its billing operation. Assessing whether to insource or outsource a practice’s billing operations is the focus of this CAPcast episode, which features a recording of a Practice Management Committee Roundtable Discussion moderated by Committee Chair Karim Sirgi, MBA, MD, FCAP. In this discussion, Dr. Sirgi talks to two pathologists--A. Joe Saad, MD, FCAP, who is Chairman of Pathology at Methodist Health System in Dallas, Texas and Sang Wu, MD, FCAP, Medical Director of North Dallas Pathology Services, as well as pathology practice advisory Al Harrison Sirmon. (This discussion was originally in June 2021.)

For more Practice Management resources, please visit the Practice Management section of CAP.org: https://www.cap.org/member-resources/practice-management.

This month we’ll look at recent efforts to strengthen the national blood supply, the passing of an omnibus bill by Congress, and the latest updates about the PREVENT Pandemics Act. We will also sit down with the Chair of the CAP’s Federal and State Affairs Committee, Dr. David Gang, to talk about the CAP’s legislative asks for this year’s Hill Day and what participants can do to prepare.

Integration of external laboratory test results without careful review could lead to significant patient safety issues, particularly as we move towards ever increasing usages of clinical decision support. These interoperability issues preclude artificial intelligence (AI) from reaching its potential, and instead introduce new risks pathologists need to be cognizant of, explains Monica de Baca, MD, FCAP. in this CAPcast interview. Dr. de Baca is moderating a panel discussion on this topic at the Pathologists Leadership Summit, which will be held virtually and in person in Washington, DC from April 30-May 3.

The title of this panel discussion is "Towards Laboratory Data Democratization and Artificial Intelligence: Underlying Standards and What Pathologists Need to Know" and will be held on Sunday May 1, from 3:00-4:00 pm EST. For more information, please visit pathologistsleadershipsummit.org.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. In 2022, the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center, estimates that more than 150,000 patients will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the United States, with more than 52,000 dying of the disease.

Early detection through prevention and screening is proven to dramatically reduce fatalities from this cancer. The CAP Cancer Protocols help ensure that all pathology reports contain necessary data elements to improve patient care. In this CAPcast discussion, pathologists Lawrence Burgart, MD, FCAP, and William Chopp, MD, FCAP, members of the CAP Cancer Committee are joined by Manish Sharma, MD, an oncologist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan and the Associated Director of Clinical Research at START Midwest, to discuss the role that CAP cancer protocols have in diagnosing and treating patients with colorectal cancer.

For more information on CAP Cancer Protocols, please visit https://capatholo.gy/2OkNDkZ.