June 30, 2026
Tell Congress to Co-sponsor The Provider Reimbursement Stability Act (H.R. 8163)
Human donor liver viability evaluation with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography
John H. Rippey, MD Grant for Laboratory Quality Assurance
“Discover Cancer Through Color” — A Coloring Book by Audrey Chan
Nick Lanyi
The CAP asks members to support an important reimbursement reform bill, a non-invasive method of assessing donor livers, and a pathology slide coloring book. 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, June 30th. A bill in Congress would modernize key parts of the Medicare Physician Payment System, which significantly underpays pathologists and other physicians. The CAP is asking members to push for the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026, also known as HR 8163. Under the current system, spending increases under the Medicare Physician fee schedule above $20 million a year must be offset elsewhere in the physician fee schedule. That threshold has remained unchanged for more than three decades and has never been adjusted for inflation. HR 8163 would increase the threshold to $57.64 million in 2028. After that, the threshold would be increased every five years to account for inflation based on an index of the real world costs of running a medical practice. Contact your representatives and ask them to sponsor the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026, HR 8163. A critical shortage of donor livers has existed for years. Now, researchers have developed a non-invasive method of assessing the viability of the organ that could prevent viable livers from being discarded. Livers are evaluated using biopsy and histopathological evaluation, but some viable livers are discarded in the process. In a study published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers at the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma combined imaging with machine learning tools to evaluate the viability of potential donor livers across several parameters. They then validated the findings using histopathological evaluation with a correlation of more than 80%. While not replacing traditional histopathology, the method could decrease the discard rate of viable livers and expand the donor pool, the authors said. The CAP Foundation is offering grants for projects aimed at improving quality assurance in pathology. The John H. Rippey, MD grant for laboratory quality assurance provides funds of $1,000 to $10,000 for innovative, highly impactful short-term proposals that can show progress within 9 to 12 months. The application period begins July 1st. It's open to pathologists, medical students, and pathology residents and fellows. The grant honors the memory of Dr. John H. Rippey, a CAP advocate who is devoted to improving laboratory quality assurance. For more information, visit the CAP Foundation website at foundation.ca.org. And finally, pathologists have long known that the images captured in pathology slides can be strangely beautiful. When Audrey Chan was in high school, she came to the same conclusion. While researching a capstone program for her senior year, she was connected to the CAP Foundation and its C Test and Treat Program. The program provides free cancer screenings to medically underserved populations, and Audrey appreciated its goals of addressing health disparities and building community. Around the same time, she came across research showing that coloring can decrease stress, increase mindfulness, and improve feelings of well-being. Audrey's Capstone Project was born to produce a coloring book using patterns from pathology slides, faithfully reproduced in black and white with scientifically accurate descriptions. It turned out great. It led to her landing an internship at the CAP Foundation, and it's now available as a book called Discover Cancer Through Color. You can purchase it on the CAP Foundation website, and all proceeds from sales of the book go to support the C Test and Treat program. Well done, Audrey. 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 at CAP.org. 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.
