August 14, 2026
College of American Pathologists, Coalition Supports Bill to Improve Medicare Coverage
Enhancing Pathology Services and Public Engagement for Improved Cancer Care in Uganda
From Finding Pathology to Expanding Its Reach
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Transcript
Nick Lanyi
CAP advocates for reform of Medicare local coverage decisions and how your donations help support pathology services in Uganda and expose more medical students to pathology. These stories and more are coming up next. This is Path News Network, daily edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nick Lanyi. It's Friday, August 14th. The CAP this week assembled more than 30 organizations in support of changing the way Medicare contract administrators make local coverage determinations. Called LCDs for short, these are decisions to cover or not certain items and services in specific regions of the country. The CAP-led coalition sent a letter to key members of Congress to express support for the Timely Access to Coverage Decisions Act of 2026, also known as HR 8500. The bill would require quicker, transparent decision making, including defined timelines, public meetings, stakeholder comments, and other improvements to a process that today is too often unaccountable and unpredictable. See the CAP website for more information. Beneficial gut bacteria essentially train intestinal cells to maintain immunity to harmful bacteria even after the beneficial bacteria are long gone. In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Northwestern University reported that a metabolite produced by gut bacteria leaves a molecular imprint on cells in the intestine. That change encourages the cells to produce substances that promote a sustained immune response. Research conducted on mice and human cells showed that they had higher immunity to inflammatory bowel disease and similar conditions. A CAP Foundation grant helped the Uganda Cancer Institute expand cancer care into parts of the country outside of the capital, Kampala. You can learn more about the grant and foundation's work in a 60-minute webinar on Tuesday, September 1st at 8 a.m. Central Time. One of the CAP Foundation's core missions is expanding pathology services to underserved populations, such as in the north and southwest of Uganda, where limited infrastructure and workforce shortages pose a challenge. Register at the CAP Foundation website. And finally, there's a shortage of pathologists. A fourth-year medical student at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine set out to do something about it. Nick Barron is a member of the CAP Residents Forum’s Digital Communications Action Group. On a recent CAP Foundation podcast, he said the pathologist shortage isn’t due to lack of interest. In fact, Michigan State students are lining up to work with a popular pathology professor.
Nick Barron
About once a month, five students in their first and second years at Michigan State would come into the laboratory, take a look at some cases that he brought in for about an hour or so, look at some supplemental questions, and then after an hour of looking at them by yourself, we would come together as a group. Old but still functional five-headed scope. And we would see how he would work through his cases and see how a pathologist thinks. And uh it was really fun. I think that's the big takeaway. Everyone really liked it. The problem is it's only got five people, right?
Nick Lanyi
So Nick applied for a CAP Foundation sparking interest in pathology award to expand the audience.
Nick Barron
We decided to get a camera so we could stream these sign-out sessions, not only so we can have more people view in from home, but also from other campuses because uh Michigan City has three campuses.
Nick Lanyi
And how did it go?
Nick Barron
In 2025, we had twenty-two students total, I believe. And schedule for like our next session next year, um, we had about fifty people interested.
Nick Lanyi
And what would it take to get more medical students interested?
Nick Barron
I think what I've learned through this project is that students are like naturally curious about pathology once they experience it. It's just that they never get the chance to.
Nick Lanyi
Great work, Nick. And that's all for today. See the show notes for more information on today's stories. And if you've got a story to share, write us at stories@ CAP.org. We'll be back Monday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nick Lanyi. Have a wonderful weekend.