STATLINE

Read the Latest Issue of STATLINE

In This Issue:

• Top Political Analyst Charlie Cook to Keynote at 2018 Policy Meeting
• Latest CAP Practice Characteristics Survey Reveals Compensation Data
• CAP Issue Brief Illustrates How Practice Setting Influences Advocacy Issues
• Upcoming QPP ‘Physician Compare’ Webinars

The CAP is pleased to announce that Charlie Cook will keynote at the 2018 Policy Meeting. Mr. Cook will review how the current political climate has impacted federal regulation on pathology practices during the Policy Meeting, which is scheduled April 30 – May 2, at the Washington Marriott in Washington, DC

Mr. Cook joins political commentator William Kristol, who will also speak about at the Policy Meeting. Both speakers will discuss the potential impact of the 2018 mid-term elections on health policy.

Mr. Cook is editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report and a columnist for National Journal magazine. Mr. Cook founded The Cook Political Report in 1984 and became a columnist for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, in 1986. Mr. Cook has served as a political analyst for CBS, CNN and NBC and has also appeared on "Meet the Press" and "This Week."

Aside from Mr. Cook’s insights, attendees at the Policy Meeting will receive the latest information on the implementation of new Medicare and laboratory regulations. The 2018 Policy Meeting will also include discussions with congressional offices during the Annual Hill Day on May 2, which is the specialty's opportunity to focus on the federal issues most important to pathologists now and in the future.

The Policy Meeting is a benefit of CAP membership and there is no fee to register.

Register for the 2018 Policy Meeting.

Back to the top

The CAP released the much-anticipated tenth 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey in October of 2017. The Survey helps the CAP set advocacy priorities and understand market pressures and environmental changes that affect practicing pathologists. Survey findings were presented at CAP17.

The 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey was sent to almost 14,000 board-certified pathologists, including CAP members and non-members. Because the survey was designed to capture trends in economic practice arrangements of pathologists practicing in the US, this survey was not sent to Junior Members still in residency, to CAP members who are identified as being in fellowship training, or to pathologists living outside the US.

Survey findings revealed:

• Vital practice member characteristic data
• Information on the concerns and challenges of pathologists
• Compensation data, including salary and benefits
• Practice-related data

The survey is designed to discover new trends and to understand the impact of market changes and public policy on pathologists, such as pathologist participation in accountable care organizations and the identification of advocacy issues most important to individual pathologists. The CAP’s Policy Roundtable oversees the development and execution of the Practice Characteristics Survey.

Since 1994, this survey has been the primary source of basic demographic data on pathologists, how they practice, and how they are being compensated. It also tracks changes that are occurring in the workforce among CAP members. The last Practice Characteristics Survey came out in 2014.

Check out the 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey Results.

Back to the top

The 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey revealed that advocacy issue priorities vary by practice setting. An issue brief about the survey outlines how participants ranked advocacy issues that they felt were important to them and their practice. Of those issues, Medicare payment for pathology services was the most important issue for pathologists with 23% having identified it as their top concern and 63% of the total respondents having cited the issue as one of their top five concerns. Nearly half the respondents cited changes to pathology scope of practice as one of their top five concerns. The other top 5 issues included:

• Direct billing for pathology services
• Maintenance of Certification requirements
• Personalized/precision medicine, genomics
• FDA regulations and oversight of laboratory developed tests

Moreover, academic hospitals, independent labs, and community (non-academic) hospitals shared three advocacy issue priorities, the remaining advocacy issue priorities were unique to each setting and differed from those listed in the top five advocacy issue priorities. Pathologists based in academic medical centers are more likely than other pathologists to express concerns about funding for graduate medical education, FDA oversight of laboratory developed tests, and personalized/precision medicine. Pathologists based in community hospitals are uniquely concerned with federal government reporting requirements for quality measures, while independent laboratories are concerned with laboratory payment. These differences demonstrate the importance of recognizing that pathologist concerns can vary by their practice setting.

Check out this latest 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey Issue brief.

Back to the top

The CAP continues to help members prepare and understand the reporting requirements under the Quality Payment Program (QPP). On February 21 and 22, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will review the recent Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and non-PQRS 2016 measures during two 90-minute identical Physician Compare webinars.

Specifically, the QPP webinars will cover:

• 2016 Performance information added in December 2017 measures release
• Physician Compare star ratings
• Upcoming additions to Physician Compare

Learn more on the QPP Physician Compare website.

Back to the top