The CAP published the 2021 Practice Leaders Survey Report, providing the latest socioeconomic data on pathology practices’ structure and ownership status, case volume and revenue mix, practice staffing, and problems they are incur with coverage and payment for services.

The 2021 report focused on pathology practice settings and recovering non-COVID-19 testing volumes.

The report had key findings about recovering non-COVID-19 testing volumes.

Changes in Laboratory Testing Volume Compared to the Prior Year, April 2020 – May 2021

Note: “EOY” means “End of Year”. The April 2020 compares volume from the same month in 2019; all other data points are year-to-date comparisons to the prior year. Source: Q12 - Using your best estimate, how has the volume of clinical pathology and anatomic pathology changed between the first five months of calendar year 2021 and the same period in calendar year 2020 for your practice? If there has been no change, please select “0”; Source: Q13 - Using your best estimate, how much do you expect the volume of clinical pathology and anatomic pathology to change in your practice from calendar year 2020 to calendar year 2021 for your practice? If you expect no change, please select “0”; COVID-19 Pathologist Impact Survey Report: Findings from the CAP’s 2nd COVID-19 Pathologist Impact Survey (March 2021).

For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, practice leaders’ year-to-date changes in non-COVID-19 clinical pathology testing and anatomic pathology testing was higher than in prior years. The average change in non-COVID-19 CP testing volume in May 2021 was 18% compared to May 2020, and the average change in AP testing volume was 20%. Practice leaders expected this trend to continue through the end of the year.

This represents a continuing improvement from the beginning of the pandemic. As shown above, at the beginning of the pandemic (April 2020), non-COVID-19 laboratory testing had dropped by an average of 41% compared to April 2019, and AP testing had fallen by an average of 69%. Subsequent CAP surveys showed slow but continued improvement in year-to-date testing volume compared to the prior year.

Download the full 2021 Practice Leader Survey report (member login is required).