CAP Review and Forecast: Informatics and Pathology Innovation 2024/2025

Robert Johnson:

Understanding new digital technologies and helping members engage with them in their laboratories. These are at the top of the informatics and innovation agenda at the College of American Pathologists. This is your CAP review and forecast focused on informatics and pathology innovation in 2024 and 2025. I'm Robert Johnson. Thank you for joining us for this conversation about accomplishments and priorities with Dr. M. E., doc, de Baca, chair of the CAP's Council on Informatics and Pathology Innovation, and a member of the CAP's Board of Governors.

Dr. M. E. de Baca:

Well, thanks, Robert. I think one of the things that we need to mention before talking about the fabulous work that happened in 2024 is the very fact that the Council on Informatics and Pathology innovation didn't even exist until November of 2022, and there hadn't been a new council at the CAP for 18 years prior to the inception of the Council on Informatics and Pathology Innovation, which we call CIPI. So CIPI and I will assuredly say 'sippy' during the course of this podcast. And so trying to make sure everyone understands what I'm talking about from the beginning is important. It's a big deal to create a new council. And so for the last year, basically, the council has solidified its footing and the committees have gained improved alignment about our collective charge and the objectives. I think everyone listening will know that every time you start something or you get something new going, you need a little bit of time to go from taking an idea into a reality.

And so we needed to clarify our roles and our charges and our objectives, not only for the council, but also for the committees that make up the council. We are trying to ensure that as we grow, CIPI engages not only with itself and its committees, but also with other councils and committees in the CAP because we know that informatics and innovation don't just touch all aspects of what we do, but also of the CAP. And so just because we have both the names, innovation and informatics in our name does not in any way mean that creating just another silo would be of benefit to anyone. I guess I could say. We're trying to learn how to crawl and then walk and at the same time talk to all the other committees and make sure that we're not going down the wrong path as we build it. Then I think that by creating the council, the CAP sent a very public message that there's a committed focus on innovation and the potential impacts of the rapidly changing landscape for pathology. So through the creation of CIPI, the board has empowered this new council to advance informatics and innovation, and that will let us prepare pathologists for what's coming next.

Robert Johnson:

So thinking about last year, then really kind of getting started, beginning to work with other councils inside the CAP setting and agenda. Looking ahead mostly, what do you think 2025 will bring?

Dr. M. E. de Baca:

Well, I think we're drinking from a fire hose, information technology and digital capacity and AI. All of these things bring with them both great opportunity and also a huge need to consider risks and to manage change. We have this convergence of reimbursement and changing business models as they relate with expanding digital pathology and the integration of AI into the practice. And these are at the top of our list. Our task is to position the CAP and our pathologist members for continued success and leadership, and they have to learn and incorporate these huge big changes into their practice while they're still doing their day jobs. The other thing is that success isn't an option. It's a requirement. All of the people who practice pathology are going to be at different phases in their understanding of these technologies and how to put them into their day job.

But that these areas are fundamentally important, not just for the practice and the science of pathology, but also for the continued quality care and safety our patients expect from us. And that's what we've sworn oaths to ensure. So we're working at sippy to make sure that we're aware of what the changes are in the markets, what the opportunities are for pathologists, trying to come up with ways to ensure that the pathologists learn what it is that they have to do to use these, how to implement them, how to quality ensure them, and then of course, CIPI's working with the Council on Government and Professional Affairs also to make sure that we get paid for what we do. So there's not a day that goes by without having a really long list of things that sippy needs to accomplish today.

Robert Johnson:

As you mentioned, all of this affects members in one way or another, but how are they responding to it? What are you hearing?

Dr. M. E. de Baca:

Well, for many of our members, these issues are rising to the top of the list of things that they're tearing their hair out about, and as these new technologies are potentially impacting the practice of pathology, the financial landscape, and the patient. But I think that with appropriate and purposeful education and advocacy efforts, these issues can be turned into advantages and value add items. I've been practicing pathology now for over 25 years, and every four or five years, there's some new technology that feels like an existential threat. But if I stand back and look at it from 120 feet or something, every time there is something like this that feels like such a threat, it's later been incorporated into our practice as a value add. So I think it's a matter of making room and a way to introduce new things into the workflow and to get paid for them.

That is the current challenge. I think that with AI, we may actually have more opportunities than ever because we are the producers of these data, and we pathologists understand the limitation of those data like no one else in the house of medicine. So I think that we can help pave the road to lead the house of medicine into a world that uses data correctly to potentiate safe, effective, and quality patient care. It's a fun place to be. Look at it with child's eyes, I think, and figure out that this is the world we live in, and now how do we make it ours?

Robert Johnson:

So how do you get more members on board with that and engaged in the work that CIPI is doing? Do you have some thoughts about how that can work?

Dr. M. E. de Baca:

Well, we're trying to make sure that people get involved and that the word is out, that we're here and we're here to stay, and we're here hopefully to be of service for people who are already CAP members apply to be a member of the council or one of the committees, come and join events like the Pathologists Leadership Summit, which takes place every year in April in Washington, DC. Come to the annual meeting this year, it's in Orlando. Come to the Annual [Cancer] Data Summit. It's a day when you can listen to some of the amazing things that are happening and the really geeky things that people are thinking about. You'd be surprised how often there are informatics touchpoints in your life if you are a pathologist. A lot of times I find people say, that's so far from my day job, and I'm like, Hmm, did you log on to a reporting tool today? Did you get data from an LIS? Did you look in any EHR? I mean, this is what you do every day, and having an idea of what it is that you already are kind of good at is always helpful to make you even better at it. So getting involved is a big deal.

Robert Johnson:

This has been your CAP review and forecast focused on informatics and pathology innovation in 2024 and 2025. This is the last of our six interviews with the CAP council chairs. Listen to the series and get related information by checking the links in the show notes for the College of American Pathologists, this is Robert Johnson. Have a great day.