August 18, 2026
CAP Webinar: Proposed 2027 Medicare Policy Payment Changes for Pathologists
Transcript
Nick Lanyi
The CAP strategy on Medicare reimbursement, possible progress on Alzheimer's, and why approval of the new mRNA flu vaccine is a big deal. These stories and more coming up next. This is Path News Network daily edition from the College of American Pathologists. I'm Nick Lanyi. It's Tuesday, August 18th. CAP leaders highlighted several important concerns about the proposed 2027 Medicare Physician fee schedule during a webinar last week. The biggest may be protecting existing surgical pathology codes, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have identified for potential cuts. Dr. Joe Saud, chair of the CAP's Council on Government and Professional Affairs, said the CAP will send CMS an extensive response and that CAP members can help.
Dr. Joe Saad
If you have any stories, issues, data, please reach out to CAP and we'll incorporate them into the letter if appropriate. We're asking you not to reach out individual to individually to CMS at this point. We'll be working with within CAP and with other organizations to coordinate our letters to CMS on this issue.
Nick Lanyi
A video of the webinar is on the CAP website. Could immune cells be used to protect the brain against Alzheimer's disease? New research says maybe. In experiments with mice, researchers at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that they could improve the brain's ability to clear amyloid plaque, a primary trigger of Alzheimer's. The researchers did that by increasing angiotensin converting enzyme, or ACE, in the brain's immune cells. ACE's main purpose is regulating blood pressure, but it also seems to help immune cells function better. The next step, the researchers say, is a clinical trial to see if ACE helps human brains clear amyloid plaque enough to slow or reduce Alzheimer's symptoms. If you need funding for a project to improve laboratory quality assurance, the CAP Foundation is ready to help. The John H. Rippe MD Grant for Laboratory Quality Assurance provides funds of $1,000 to $10,000 for innovative short-term projects, ones that can show progress within 9 to 12 months. Rippey, who joined the CAP in 1959, died in 1994. He combined his work at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City with research, publishing more than 20 articles during his career with particular attention on lab quality and proficiency testing. The grants are available to pathologists, medical students, and pathology residents and fellows. Visit the CAP Foundation website for more information. And finally, the FDA has approved the first seasonal flu vaccine based on mRNA technology, which first drew worldwide media attention when it was used in the rapid development of COVID vaccines. MRNA vaccines can be produced much more quickly than previous vaccines, which should mean they're better targeted to each season's predominant flu strain s Dr. Jana Broadhurst, director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Biocontainment Unit Clinical Laboratory and Emerging Pathogens Laboratory, and a member of the CAP Microbiology Committee, explained the significance.
Dr. Jana Broadhurst
In the near term, this vaccine has demonstrated efficacy that is an improvement on routine vaccinations that are currently available. So we can anticipate that the rollout of this new mRNA vaccine will lead to fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths due to influenza as soon as this coming influenza season. So that's important. The longer term impact, of course, is driven by the way in which mRNA vaccines can be more rapidly reformulated and manufactured to match new strains of influenza and very importantly, novel and emerging strains that can lead to pandemic threats. So this is a very important step in the field of pandemic preparedness for novel influenza threats as well.
Nick Lanyi
The FDA's decision reversed its previous stance, which reflected vaccine skepticism in the administration. Epidemiologists celebrated the FDA's change of heart.
Dr. Jana Broadhurst
I think we've had a struggle with public confidence in seasonal influenza vaccines because of this challenge and this lag and needing to predict so early what the predominant strains are going to be. So I think that that this is going to move us forward in our confidence in seasonal influenza vaccines, as well as confidence in in the safety and utility of mRNA platforms.
Nick Lanyi
That's all for today. Check the show notes for more information on today's stories and spread the word about the Daily Edition by sending your colleagues a link to the podcast. We'll be back Wednesday at 5 a.m. Eastern for another episode of the Daily Edition. I'm Nick Lanyi. Have a wonderful day.