Advocacy Update

• CAP Lobbies Lawmakers for LDT Regulatory Relief, Higher Medicare Pay
• October Recess Rally Recap: More Than 300 Pathologists Act
• Physicians Supported by PathPAC to Join Congress
• New Podcast! How Insurer Interference Impacts Medical Care
• In Case You Missed It: CAP Releases 2024 Practice Characteristics Survey
• Webinar: What Will Be the Impact of the Final 2025 Fee Schedule on Your Practice?
• CDC Request for Proposal: Diagnostic Test Development and Production for Emergency Response
• Kennedy Nominated to Lead HHS

The CAP strongly urged Congress to increase Medicare payment for pathology services and stop the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight rule for laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) during a coordinated lobbying effort on November 14. In total, 26 pathologists met with 36 congressional offices, including leadership, in the House and Senate. They explained how pay cuts and burdensome LDT regulation will hurt their practices, laboratories, and communities.

The CAP is pushing Congress to enact legislation to address these two issues before lawmakers adjourn this year. All CAP members can help by visiting our Action Center and using the messaging application to contact their representatives and senators.

On LDTs, pathologists asked lawmakers to stop the FDA LDT rule by including the VALID Act, or legislation like it, in an end-of-year legislative package. At a minimum, Congress must delay implementation of the final rule to give itself time to work with stakeholders to pass legislation that includes an appropriate oversight framework with a limited role for the FDA.

CAP members also asked legislators to include an inflationary update to the Medicare physician fee schedule in the end-of-year legislative package. This would be one step in the process of providing crucial financial stability until additional, permanent bipartisan Medicare payment reforms are enacted.

During the October recess rally, 336 CAP members took action against burdensome LDT regulation and Medicare cuts. A total of 288 members of Congress received 691 messages from pathologists on these critical issues.

The CAP will continue to advocate for reduced regulatory burden and Medicare payment reform. CAP members can help by signing up for grassroots text alerts.

Three notable PathPAC-backed candidates were elected to Congress earlier this month. They are Herb Conaway, MD (NJ-03), Maxine Dexter, MD (OR-03), and Kelly Morrison, MD (MN-03). We look forward to working with them on the crucial issues impacting pathology in the upcoming 119th Congress.

These three members-elect will bring their healthcare backgrounds and state legislative experience to Congress in the new year. Read more about the candidates.

With so many crucial healthcare policies on the Congressional agenda, physician perspectives are needed on Capitol Hill. PathPAC prioritized political engagement with viable physician candidates throughout the 2024 election cycle and remains dedicated to growing the number of lawmakers with medical backgrounds.

Remember that your support for PathPAC was crucial in ensuring the political action committee had adequate resources to invest in these races and to build early relationships on behalf of the pathology specialty. Thank you to all PathPAC members for supporting pathology’s political voice!

Insurer interference is on the rise, creating barriers for patients to access medical care. It often happens under the guise of cost-cutting measures for patients, but pathologists report an increase in disruptions to providing timely diagnosis and medical care for their patients.

On a new episode of CAPcast, Theresa Emory, MD, FCAP, Chair, CAP's Payment Policy Subcommittee, discusses how insurer interference impacts medical treatment and the CAP’s latest white paper, Examining the State of Health Care’s Private Payers and the Adverse Impact of Insurance Interference.

Listen to the episode

The CAP published the 13th edition of the 2024 Practice Characteristics Survey Report on November 12, available exclusively to CAP members. The survey provides a primary source of basic data about board-certified pathologists, how they practice, and how they are being compensated. It also tracks the latest changes in the workforce and new trends such as adoption of digital pathology technology, insurance company prior authorization mandates, and how immigration policy affects hiring decisions.

Highlights from the report include:

• 61% of practice leaders intend to hire at least one pathologist in 2024, but about half of them don’t expect to be able to fill all open positions.
• Half of respondents anticipate no change in gross income from 2023 to 2024 while 11% expect a decrease.
• 40% of practice leaders reported that, over the last two years, visa requirements either prevented them from considering certain candidates for open positions, prevented them from hiring certain candidates, or both.
• The most significant scope of practice infringements reported by pathologists in their practice over the past 24 months came from Doctors of Clinical Laboratory Science (DCLS), non-PhD laboratory scientists, cytotechnologists, and pathologists’ assistants.
• 10% percent of practice leaders reported that pathologists in their practice use remote sign-out for primary diagnosis.
• 28% of practice leaders reported that their practice digitizes slides using Whole-Slide Imaging, up from 20% in 2022.

Download the full 2024 Practice Characteristics Survey Report

For questions on the report, please email practicesurvey@cap.org.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final 2025 Medicare payment regulations, including rules for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and the Quality Payment Program.

On December 4 at 2 PM ET/ 1 PM CT, the CAP will offer a complimentary live webinar where CAP experts will review final regulations that will impact Medicare payment for services and pathologists’ participation in the quality initiatives. Webinar presenters will be the Council on Government and Professional Affairs Chair A. Joe Saad, MD, CPE, FCAP; Economic Affairs Committee Chair Ronald McLawhon, MD, PhD, FCAP; and Quality and Clinical Data Registry Affairs Committee Chair Gregary Bocsi DO, FCAP.

Register today

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a request for proposal for organizations to collaborate on enhancing laboratory testing surge capacity outside of the CDC and public health laboratories before and during public health emergencies.

The goal of the Request for Proposal (RFP) is to improve the efficiency and accuracy of laboratory testing, and the situational awareness provided by use of laboratory data during public health emergencies.

The CDC will sign three to five contracts with organizations to develop and validate pathogen tests, report results, and analyze the efficacy and gaps of the processes involved. The minimum amount for a single contractual agreement is $10,000. The total budget for the contracts supported by the project is $148,000,000. Responses are due December 2, 2024.

Click here for more details and to access a copy of the RFP.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Mr. Kennedy, who was a candidate for president before withdrawing and endorsing former President Trump’s candidacy, would need to be confirmed by the Senate before leading HHS, which administers Medicare, Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration, and other federal health agencies.

Over the next several weeks, the CAP will provide additional updates on the presidential and congressional transition.