October 16, 2026
Transcript
Nick Lanyi
Proposed updates to CLIA. Newly re-elected board member Dr. Diana Cardona sees a pivotal moment. And it's a good time to join the AMA. These stories and more coming up next. Welcome to CAP News. I'm Nick Lanyi with the College of American Pathologists. It's Friday, October 16th. Here's what's making news in pathology and laboratory medicine. Federal rules governing U.S. laboratories would be tweaked under a proposal released last week. Among other exchanges, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the CDC, which jointly oversee CLIA, seek to clarify what work can be done remotely now that COVID era waivers have ended. Qualified pathologists and lab personnel could remotely review digital data, results, live imaging, and digital images under the primary testing lab's CLIA certificate. However, cytology, the examination of individual cells, would continue to be excluded as federal law mandates it be done in the physical lab. Other updates include revisions to qualifications for lab personnel and changes to reporting requirements. The CAP will submit comments to CMS and the CDC during the 60-day comment period. October 23rd is the deadline for pathology residents to apply for the CAP Foundation's Clinical Laboratory Science Investigator Award, sponsored by Eli Lilly. The award provides a four-week onsite training program at Lilly's Clinical Diagnostics Laboratory in Indianapolis. Residents will participate in research on new biomarker assays for use in clinical studies. The award includes up to $5,000 to cover travel and living expenses. Again, the application deadline is October 23rd. Go to the CAP Foundation website for more information. The American Medical Association is offering a 50% discount on dues for new members. That's important because the CAP strongly urges members to also join the AMA. More CAP members will boost our representation in the AMA House of Delegates, where national medical policy is debated — and often made. And finally… Dr. Diana Cardona was just re-elected to a second term on the CAP Board of Governors. In her day job, she chairs the Pathology Department at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and is Chief Clinical Officer for Advocate Clinical Laboratories. She's also currently president of the North Carolina Society of Pathologists. With CAP, she has been a leader in advocacy efforts as vice chair of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs. Here's how she sees the profession.
Dr. Diana Cardona
So pathology, in my opinion, is at an inflection point. The challenges that we're facing aren't necessarily new, right? But what's different is that they're all occurring at the same time. So this is including professional and clinical laboratory reimbursement pressures, workforce shortages in all aspects of laboratory medicine. There's increasing regulatory complexity, ongoing threats to the pathologist's role in patient care.
Nick Lanyi
Despite the challenges, she sees opportunity.
Dr. Diana Cardona
Medicine's becoming increasingly personalized and data driven, which is where we live, right? That's exactly what we do in laboratory medicine and pathology. So that's what excites me, as that provides us really a tremendous opportunity. There's advancement in digital pathology, artificial intelligence, genomics, precision medicine. All of these are transforming how we diagnose and how we are going to better support our patients. And we, as pathologists, we're uniquely positioned to help lead that transformation.
Nick Lanyi
It's a lot of work, but Dr. Cardona is grateful for the opportunity.
Dr. Diana Cardona
Being able to serve in a CAP leadership role has given me a voice to advocate for our profession, and then also for the patients who depend on our work. Looking back, I've been engaged with the CAP for about 20 years now, and I can honestly say that while I have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy, I've received far more in return. The relationships I've built, the mentors and friends that I've gained, the opportunities to collaborate on meaningful work, the chance to contribute to something larger than myself has been incredibly rewarding.
Nick Lanyi
That's all for today. See the show notes for more information on today's stories. And spread the word about this podcast by sharing a link on social media. We'll be back Monday, October 19th with another edition of CAP News. I'm Nick Lanyi. Have a wonderful weekend.