Pathologists Assemble! Plan to Visit Congress in April

Robert Johnson:
For the sixth year in a row, Congress is unable to agree on inflationary pay increases. For pathologists, it's time to let lawmakers know where you stand. Medicare reimbursement is on the agenda when pathologists meet in Washington DC next month. It's one of the issues members of the College of American Pathologists will discuss when they visit congressional offices during the Annual House of Delegates and Pathologists Leadership Summit. There's still time to join your colleagues in this important event planned for April 26th through the 29th. Dr. Joe Saad is chair of the CAP's Council on Government and Professional Affairs. He tells us why you need to be here in April.

Dr. Joe Saad:
While there's strength in numbers, and the more people we can get to Capitol Hill, the better it is for us to be able to advocate effectively for our issues. Now, it's very important for you to be a constituent in the meetings that you attend because the legislators and their staff want to hear from their constituents. So ideally, the more people that we can have in each meeting, better constituents, the better. However, we know that some states are smaller and we don't get as many members attending, so it's important to have at least one member from that state and hopefully a constituent of the congressional person from that state attend the meeting. Obviously, the more the better. Some states such as Texas or Florida or California, in certain meetings with our senators, we may have eight or 10 or 12 people, which is great. In smaller states, you may end up with one or two, but that's fine. As long as you're there, you're engaged, you're a constituent, they want to hear from you, and it's very important that you attend and let 'em know about the issues that impact you, your profession, and your patience.

Robert Johnson:
You've gone into member offices before. Tell us what that's like.

Dr. Joe Saad:
In one word, it's thrilling. It's really great to be there. It's important for them to hear from you. They want to hear from you, and it's important for us as US citizens to petition our government. It's our right. We live in a country where it's our right to partition our government and make 'em aware of the issues that are impacting us and impacting our profession. So number one, it's a duty. Number two, it really is a thrilling experience. It never gets sold. I've been at least a dozen times, it never gets sold. Every time I feel a rush of adrenaline and I come out of the meetings invigorated and encouraged about the state of our profession and our country as a matter of fact.

Robert Johnson:
Now, some members may be thinking of attending, but they might also be a little bit worried about how to engage an elected leader or a member of the staff. What are we doing to help them with that?

Dr. Joe Saad:
We'll make sure they're well prepared to go to the Hill. We're not going to send anyone to the Hill unprepared, and if it's your first time, we will likely try to match you with either an experienced member who's done this before or a CAP staff member. We're not going to send the first time attendee into the first meeting alone. During the preparation for the Hill Day meeting, you will be prepared for the issues that you're going to discuss, and you have to remember that you as a pathologist, you're an expert in pathology and on the issues that we'll be discussing. However, we will make sure that you know the background and you're well prepared to discuss them. In addition, you'll be coached in how to sit down with members of Congress or their staff and talk to them how to present your issues and how to ask questions. I need to stress upfront. You're not expected to know everything, and if you come across a question or situation where you're not sure of the answer, it's best to know, I'm not sure. I'll get back to you, and then make sure you follow up with that congressional office. Either the staff will follow up or you can follow up with an appropriate response. So don't be afraid, don't be scared. It's not the end of the world if you don't know something. It's more important to be honest and upfront.

Robert Johnson:
I'm guessing the first time you did this, you may have had some butterflies as well. Can you talk about that to give people some sense of how you overcame it and now have become a pro when it comes to this kind of work?

Dr. Joe Saad:
I don't think that I've ever gotten over the butterflies every time. It's exciting. It's a new experience and I love going there, so every time I feel a bit of a thrill and some butterflies. I think that's a normal response to wanting, number one, be excited about being there, and number two, wanting to do a good job. So even though I've gotten used to it and I probably have less butterflies than I did the first time I went, it's just exciting every time and every year it's a new experience and it's great. I love it. I'll keep coming back as long as I can.

Robert Johnson:
Do you think member voices really have an impact on policy?

Dr. Joe Saad:
They certainly do, because again, as I said earlier, you're a constituent and your member of Congress wants to hear from you about the issues that are affecting you, important to you, and ultimately the folks back home in their district. You have to remember they're elected from their districts or their states, and so it's very important that they engage with you and you engage with them so that their voices can be heard. Ultimately, we do make an impact, and I guess the most important thing is that they need to hear from us because if they don't hear from us either they think the issue isn't important or they're hearing from others about other issues that would supersede our issues. So it's very important that we stay in front of 'em, we make our voices heard, and we do make progress. Now, nothing happens very rapidly in Washington dc unlike the states where during a legislative session there's of thousands of bills that are passed in dc the legislature, Congress is very deliberate, and so it takes months, sometimes years for issues to pass, but ultimately we do make a difference and many of our issues have been heard and have been acted on,

Robert Johnson:
And there are a lot of issues of concern right now to pathologists everywhere, so it's really important to be here in April.

Dr. Joe Saad:
Absolutely. It's important. An issue that we've been facing for several years, and we're going to face again this year, is payment for our services. We want to be fairly reimbursed for the pathology services that we provide, and this year we're going to be asking Congress for a long-term solution to decreasing reimbursement. That's going to be an inflationary update tied to the Medicare economic index of inflation. We're going to be asking for that. There's issues around the workforce. We're facing a severe workforce shortage. We need to make sure that the pathologists that come to this country, the physicians that come and get trained in pathology are able to stay here if they want to. Those are just two of the issues. Obviously, there's a lot of regulatory issues. Laboratory developed tests is a big one right now, and ultimately, regardless of the outcome of the final rule, the solution is a legislative solution, and so we need to continue to press Congress for a legislative solution that will protect patients, make sure that tests are safe and effective. It will allow for innovation and it won't overburden our laboratories.

Robert Johnson:
And as you mentioned, if you're a pathologist and you want to weigh in on this, you really just need to get yourself to Washington DC next month and the CAP will take it from there. They'll help you get ready.

Dr. Joe Saad:
Yes, you'll be well prepared. You will go with colleagues and or CAP staff and I can almost guarantee that it's going to be a very exciting and thrilling experience, and I hope you'll come back after the first time. If it's your first time.

Robert Johnson:
Before we go, I'd like you to take a look into your crystal ball. Imagine having gone through this year's event already. Everyone's left Washington DC. What does success look like to you?

Dr. Joe Saad:
More generally, the CAP is going to be tracking metrics to decide if we had a successful meeting or not, and that'll be number of people attending PLS, number of new attendees, number of Hill visits, the number of co-sponsors we get on our bills, offices, visited lab tours that are scheduled, et cetera. There'll be a lot of specific metrics. However, to me, the most important measure of success is that you go there and you have a good time, you have a great experience, and you come back wanting to do it again. If I get one or two or 10 members that say, that was great, we loved it and we're coming back to me, that's success.

Robert Johnson:
You can sign up to attend the CAP House of Delegates and Pathologists Leadership Summit using the link in the show notes for the College of American Pathologists. This is Robert Johnson. Have a great day.