October 2, 2026
CAP Statement: Local Coverage Reform Legislation
Transcript
Nancy Johnson
Progress on the path to reform Medicare's local coverage determination process. The CAP Foundation offers funding for ethics programs, and CAP26 kicks off this weekend. These stories and more coming up next.
Nancy Johnson
Welcome to CAP News. I'm Nancy Johnson with the College of American Pathologists. It's Friday, October 2nd. Here's what's making news in pathology and laboratory medicine.
Nancy Johnson
The CAP expressed support for a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week that would improve Medicare's local coverage determination or LCD process, a longstanding priority for the CAP. LCDs help determine Medicare coverage for many pathology services and tests. Under the current system, contractors make decisions without adequate input from physicians, the CAP says. Reimbursement decisions and appeals also take much too long. The Senate bill is a companion to House Resolution 8500, which the CAP also supports. These bills would improve the LCD process by ensuring decisions are made in a timely manner, based on clear evidence and informed by practicing physicians and patients.
Nancy Johnson
More positive news on the advocacy front: a new federal standard for healthcare data incorporated changes that the CAP fought for. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released its new version of USDCI+ Quality. The USDCI program sets a standard for healthcare data elements so they can be exchanged and used by different providers. When ONC released the draft version of its standard for quality measurement data, the CAP identified several areas that didn't align with commonly used laboratory data standards. This would have created confusion and potentially forced unnecessary changes to data practices. The ONC addressed the CAP's concerns in the final version.
Nancy Johnson
The CAP Foundation is now accepting applications for the Pierre Keitges MD grant for medical ethics. The grant provides funding up to $5,000 to CAP members to produce programs that focus on ethical and health disparity in pathology and medicine. We recently spoke with former recipient of the grant, Dr. Paula Danika Binsol. She wanted to organize a lecture and workshop on ethics and pathology in the Philippines, where she was doing a rotation, but she needed funding.
Dr. Paula Danika Binsol
And then I remembered that CAP had this foundation. And so I like I had a co-resident who actually was granted the translational research award a year before me. And so I was kind of going through this and I was like, I wonder if this could work under translational. And then I found the cutting ice grant specifically for ethics. And I was like, this is perfect. Like it will work really well.
Nancy Johnson
Dr. Binsol's one-day program was a success, attended by medical students and residents from across Manila. To find out if one of the CAP Foundation's grants or awards would work for your project, visit the CAP Foundation website. And finally, CAP26 kicks off tonight in Las Vegas with a CAP Foundation event. The full slate of educational, training, advocacy, and networking programs begins Saturday. On Sunday, the CAP will celebrate this year's award winners for exceptional contributions to pathology. We sincerely hope you enjoy the weekend. This podcast will take a break Monday and Tuesday, but keep an eye out for special reports from CAP26 over the weekend, Monday and Tuesday.
Nancy Johnson
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 to us at stories at CAP.org. We'll be back Wednesday, October 7th with another edition. I'm Nancy Johnson. Have a great weekend.