Advocacy Update

• CAP and Almost 90 Groups Ask Congress to Increase Diversity in Clinical Trials
• How Have Insurance Payment Delays Affected Your Practice?
• The 2022 Practice Characteristics Survey Is Open
• Test Your Advocacy Knowledge

The CAP, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and almost 90 other medical and health care professional organizations asked Congress to diversify medical clinical trials by including diversity as part of 2022 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prescription drug user fee reauthorization legislation. The CAP has urged Congress to pass this and other legislation that addresses social determinants of health in the United States.

In the May 12 letter, the CAP and others urged Congress to improve clinical trial diversity since it is essential for both patient health care access and comprehensive scientific research.

In the letter, the groups outlined how the majority of clinical trials fail overwhelmingly to achieve diverse enrollment - despite the fact that many serious and chronic diseases disproportionately impact underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups. “This lack of diversity in trial enrollment inhibits a full understanding of how safe and effective new drugs might be across their intended populations,” the letter stated. “We urge Congress to make real and meaningful reforms that will help ensure patients in every part of the country have access to the clinical trial care they need, while at the same time accelerating the development of new and better treatment options for patients for decades to come.”

• Promote sponsor accountability for enrollment diversity
• Reduce travel burden for trial participants Improve outreach to underserved patients and providers
• Minimize financial barriers

The CAP would like to hear from members regarding general reimbursement issues with Anthem BlueCross BlueShield or other private payers. Recent news reports have documented major insurers owe physicians billions of dollars and the CAP would like to further gauge how pathologists have been affected.

Previously, the CAP engaged with Anthem BlueCross BlueShield opposing the insurer’s cuts to pathology. The CAP has long expressed concern with policies that make it increasingly difficult for pathologists to provide essential diagnostic services to patients and for laboratories to continue to serve the rural and smaller hospitals that have relied on them.

In 2020, the CAP urged Anthem BlueCross and BlueShield to stop implementing the 2019 fee schedule cuts and reinstate payments to previous levels where the cuts were implemented. Further, the CAP is continuing our engagement with Cigna, urging the insurer to appropriately reimburse pathologists for the professional component of clinical pathology.

If you are currently experiencing any reimbursement issues with Anthem BlueCross BlueShield or other private payers, please contact CAP Assistant Director of Economic and Regulatory Affairs, Elizabeth Fassbender. Please refer to the CAP’s private sector advocacy page for additional updates and information.

The 2022 Practice Characteristics Survey is open, and pathologists are asked share critical, first-hand data from their practices regarding the impact of the pandemic, demographic changes, and market trends. The survey is open until May 27.

This important survey assists in shaping CAP’s advocacy priorities as it captures and quantifies changes in the practice of pathology. These include changes in pathologist compensation, challenges faced by pathologists and pathology practices, and trends in—and barriers to—the adoption of new technologies. The results will be published and shared with our members to inform and guide pathologists’ decisions regarding their practices.

The survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. It includes a function that allows you to resume the survey if there is a need to stop and restart. In appreciation for your efforts, upon completion of the survey, all participants can receive a $10 gift card of your choice to either Amazon, Starbucks, or Visa.

Complete your survey soon before it closes on May 27.

Did you attend the Pathologists Leadership Summit and think you know CAP Advocacy? Test your knowledge with this month’s news quiz. See how you compare against your fellow CAP members and brag about your top scores on social!

Take the news quiz