The College’s greatest strength is its people: our members, our customers, and our staff, in every practice setting, from community and private practice to academic centers. These are my answers to the questions every candidate is asked, followed by the six priorities I would pursue as President-Elect.
Why I am running
Everything the College accomplishes comes from the pathologists who volunteer their expertise, the laboratories that rely on our programs, and the staff who turn our mission into daily work. One of our greatest opportunities for growth is transforming how we gather, refine, and share information so those people can do their best work. I have spent my career where pathology practice meets technology, working side by side with community practice groups and academic colleagues. During my first term on the Board, we began rethinking how the right information reaches the right people at the right time. I want to carry that work forward from the President-Elect role, in partnership with members, customers, staff, and fellow leaders.
Issues I see facing the College
- Pressure on payment and the value of laboratory services, including denials, prior authorization, and the possible revaluation of the 88300–88309 anatomic pathology codes. Pathologists and laboratories need a College that makes the case for the value of their work.
- The pricing and burden of accreditation, proficiency testing, and inspections, especially for smaller laboratories and independent practices.
- The workforce shortage, including recruiting and keeping pathologists in community and other non-academic settings.
- Consolidation, private equity, and competition from national laboratories, and what they mean for independent practices.
- Contracting with hospitals and health systems.
- Coverage and payer policies, including local coverage determinations, laboratory benefit manager programs, and the effects of PAMA on hospital and independent laboratories.
- Regulatory change, including oversight of laboratory-developed tests and the possibility of changes to CLIA.
- Putting information to work for our people. Members, customers, and staff should get timely, usable information from the College, and the College should be able to learn from them just as easily.
- Culture and collaboration. Innovation grows when members, customers, staff, and leaders trust one another and work as a team.
- Relevance and value. The annual meeting, programs, and website should be useful to members in every practice setting.
What I hope to accomplish
- Listen first to community and private-practice pathologists, and make sure the programs, advocacy, and tools the College builds solve problems they face in daily practice.
- Use the College’s evolving governance model to speed up innovation from within, strengthen collaboration across members, customers, and staff, and build in regular feedback and learning.
- Take an honest, documented look at the College’s strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, starting by listening to the people who do the work, and how well today’s processes carry out our strategy.
- Work with members and staff to make informed decisions faster at every level, and report recommendations back to the relevant councils, the Board, and executive leadership.
Six priorities
1. Advocate for fair payment
Reimbursement is at the forefront of every practice, and payment changes can land hardest in community and private practice. I will support CAP’s reimbursement and payment advocacy so that the specialty is heard where decisions are made, and I will work to keep that advocacy grounded in the realities of practices of every size: coding and payment changes, denials and prior authorization, and the administrative burden that takes time away from patient care.
2. Support practices of every size
Community and private-practice pathologists are the backbone of the College. I will work to ease the cost and burden of accreditation, proficiency testing, and inspections; to help practices recruit and keep pathologists outside academic centers; and to give independent groups the tools and information they need as consolidation, private equity, and national laboratories change the market and as they negotiate with hospitals and health systems.
3. Build interoperability that improves your practice
Reliable two-way data connections between your laboratory and the College can mean less manual re-entry, fewer errors, and lower costs for laboratories of any size. I have spent my career on interoperability standards, including work with IHE, SNOMED International, and national health IT standards groups, and I helped lead the laboratory system go-lives at Duke Raleigh and Duke Regional. Any new service the College builds should pass one test: does it make your practice better?
4. Make digital pathology and AI practical for every laboratory
Digital pathology and artificial intelligence are changing how we practice. Having chaired the CAP Artificial Intelligence Committee, I want the College’s standards, quality programs, and education to help pathologists in every setting adopt these tools safely, with confidence, and at a cost that makes sense for their practice.
5. Keep CAP financially strong and focused on members
A financially strong College can keep investing in the people and programs members value, and can help keep costs down for members. I will work to broaden CAP’s sources of revenue and to increase operational efficiency, so that new investments are protected and our staff and volunteers can focus on the work that matters most.
6. Engage every member
The future of CAP depends on every member feeling that the College works for them. I began my CAP service in the Residents Forum and later chaired it. I want to work with community and private-practice groups, academic chairs, and program leaders so that residents and early-career pathologists see a path to a career in any practice setting, and every member sees CAP as their professional home.