Pathologists unite in Washington against lab cuts, tariffs, and more

The CAP held its Council on Government and Professional Affairs (CGPA) Fall Assembly in Washington, DC, October 17–19.

The impact: Against the background of a federal government shutdown, the CGPA discussed its end-of-year strategy to reverse 2026 cuts to clinical lab services and several other topics, during the weekend's meeting.

On Friday, committees that are part of CGPA met to discuss the CAP’s advocacy priorities. The meeting included about 60 members of the Economic Affairs, Federal & State Affairs, and Value-Based Programs & Healthcare Policy Committees, as well as the PathPAC Board.

Hot topics: Pathologists discussed various CAP member concerns, including the shutdown, tariffs, stabilizing Medicare’s payment system, prior authorization, gene patents, digital pathology, quality payment programs, and much more.

• Throughout the day on Friday, the committees heard from guest speakers, including Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and congressional staff of health care policymakers.
• Rep. Obernolte, whose father is a pathologist, spoke about the federal oversight of artificial intelligence in health care. He also answered questions about congressional support to stop Medicare cuts to clinical lab services in 2026.

Go deeper: Read Rep. Obernolte’s Bipartisan House Task Force on AI report.

By the numbers: It’s not just pathologists in the CGPA family who are engaged in advocacy. Thousands of CAP members have been extremely active in our programs throughout 2025:

• 16,000 messages have been sent to Congress by about 1,800 pathologists. We're asking at least 700 more CAP members to send an Action Alert and help us achieve our advocacy objectives.
• 77 congressional candidates have received PathPAC funds. PathPAC has also allowed the CAP and its members to attend 100 political events, including many where pathologists met one-on-one with a member of Congress.
• 470 CAP members, including 133 new donors, have contributed to PathPAC in 2025. PathPAC is the only political action committee solely dedicated to representing pathologists. We’re asking for 100 more CAP members to support PathPAC before December 31.