ASCP 2017 Annual Meeting Forecasts Opportunities on the Healthcare Horizon
More than 2,000 guests from around the world were inspired by illuminating keynote speakers and groundbreaking discoveries at the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) 2017 Annual Meeting, Sept. 6–8, in Chicago.
Attendees heard poignant and personal stories shared by distinguished speakers—all of them agents of change and advocates for access to quality health care. US Global AIDS Coordinator Deborah L. Birx, MD, who oversees implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), spoke about efforts to provide global access to health care and the lab’s role in this endeavor.
In the Scientific General Session, Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, shared how data can improve cancer care, and Colin C. Pritchard, MD, PhD, discussed leveraging cancer bioinformatics in the lab.
ASCP CEO E. Blair Holladay, PhD, MASCP, SCT(ASCP)CM, presented the inaugural Patient Champion Award to cancer survivor Cindy Johns, MSA, MASCP, MT(ASCP)SH. “Patient Champions are current or former patients who share how they have managed or overcome their diagnoses with the help of a laboratory team’s medical care,” he said. The initiative helps raise awareness of the crucial role the medical laboratory plays in patient care through real-life patient stories.
Attendees also viewed a video that demonstrates how ASCP is working to promote the laboratory to the general public. Made possible by the ASCP Foundation’s Laboratory Visibility Fund, the video was also shown on more than 4,000 domestic American Airlines flights in August and September, reaching a total of 2.6 million passengers.
The ASCP Foundation, launched last spring, is working to raise the visibility of the medical laboratory, promote the future of the laboratory through its Scholarship Fund, and, through the ASCP-led Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa, provide diagnostics in countries where access to pathologists or medical laboratories is virtually nonexistent.
Dr. Holladay also introduced the ASCP Foundation’s Founders Society, which comprises 14 individuals who have invested significantly in the future of pathology and the medical laboratory profession. Since then, eight more members have joined the Founders Society. If you would like to join, there is still time. To become a member of the Founders Society, make a minimum $5,000 pledge by March 2018.
On Sept. 8, 2016–2017 ASCP President William E. Schreiber, MD, FASCP, passed the mantle of leadership to ASCP’s new president, James L. Wisecarver, MD, PhD, FASCP. The Annual Meeting concluded with a celebratory Mixology reception.
Mark your calendars for Oct. 3–5, 2018, and plan to attend the ASCP 2018 Annual Meeting in Baltimore!
Free CMS Reporting Option for Pathologiststo Meet 2017 MIPS Requirements
The ASCP National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR) is offering a free reporting option to all pathologists through a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved qualified registry provided by ASCP’s technology and analytics partner, ArborMetrix. Using this solution, you can easily and satisfactorily meet requirements, and avoid a 4 percent loss on your Medicare Part B billing in 2017.
Getting started is easy:
Step 1: Visit www.ascp.org/NPQR/2017 and fill out the sign-up form.
Step 2: Once you receive the electronic consent form via email, complete it and select one improvement activity on which to report.
After it receives your consent form and improvement activity, ArborMetrix will submit data to CMS on your behalf and keep you informed of your progress. Learn more at www.ascp.org/NPQR/2017.
ASCP Expands Choosing Wisely Recommendations
ASCP has released its fourth list of recommendations for laboratory tests that are commonly ordered, but not always appropriate in pathology and laboratory medicine as part of the Choosing Wisely campaign, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. These five targeted, evidence-based recommendations expand ASCP’s existing list to 20 recommendations and are designed to support conversations between patients and physicians about what care is really necessary.
ASCP’s new Choosing Wisely recommendations are as follows:
Do not order a frozen section on a pathology specimen if the result will not affect immediate (ie, intraoperative or perioperative) patient management.
Do not repeat hemoglobin electrophoresis (or equivalent) in patients who have a prior result and who do not require therapeutic intervention or monitoring of hemoglobin variant levels.
Do not test for protein C, protein S, or antithrombin III levels during an active clotting event to diagnose a hereditary deficiency, because these tests are not analytically accurate during an active clotting event.
Do not order red blood cell folate levels at all. In adults, consider folate supplementation instead of serum folate testing in patients with macrocytic anemia.
Do not use sputum cytology to evaluate patients with peripheral lung lesions.
“ASCP is honored to be part of this important quality initiative,” said Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH, DLM(ASCP)CM, FASCP, chair of ASCP’s Effective Test Utilization Subcommittee and a Past President of ASCP. “As ASCP continues to expand our recommendations, we expect to see increasing quality, more appropriate care with lower costs, and more effective use of our medical laboratory resources and personnel. Choosing Wisely aims to encourage clinician and patient conversations across all disciplines of medicine. ASCP’s work focuses on highlighting potentially unnecessary and sometimes harmful care in pathology and laboratory medicine.”
ASCP Foundation: Paving the Way for the Future
Throughout his career, ASCP President James L. Wisecarver, MD, PhD, FASCP, has considered ASCP his professional home. He honed his leadership skills while serving on the ASCP Board of Certification Board of Governors, the ASCP Board of Directors, and the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy.
To demonstrate his appreciation to the Society, Dr. Wisecarver recently made a generous gift to the ASCP Foundation “to help pave the way for the next generation of leaders.”
“I have benefited over the years from the activities ASCP has provided to advance our profession. It’s imperative to give back to the profession we all enjoy,” he says.
Dr. Wisecarver’s gift is the single largest personal donation in the ASCP Foundation’s history, given in addition to his 2017 Founders Society donation. He chose to support the ASCP Foundation’s General Fund, which provides the Foundation the flexibility to respond to issues as they emerge. For example, the General Fund is supporting laboratories in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.
“The Foundation is helping bring the healthcare system in Puerto Rico back to life,” Dr. Wisecarver explains.
The ASCP Foundation, launched in Spring 2017, also gives members the opportunity to play an active role in shaping the future of their profession. Donations may also be made to the following funds:
Scholarship Fund: The ASCP Foundation provides financial support to outstanding pathology residents to help them expand their knowledge, skills, and professional network, and it assists clinical laboratory students through scholarships for books and tuition. The Foundation also provides grants to medical laboratory science program directors to support the purchase of education-related materials and other training resources.
Visibility Fund: Medical laboratory scientists are the hidden professionals in the healthcare field. The ASCP Foundation supports public relations and advertising campaigns designed specifically to tell the story of the laboratory.
Global Health Fund: Through Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa, ASCP provides diagnostics in countries where access to pathologists or medical laboratories is virtually nonexistent.
“ASCP is uniquely suited to address these various issues because it represents all facets of the medical laboratory team,” Dr. Wisecarver says. “This enables us to see the issues from a variety of vantage points and helps us represent the entire lab team to policy makers.”
He encourages other colleagues to follow his lead in supporting the ASCP Foundation. Making a gift online to support the ASCP Foundation is easy; just go to www.ascp.org/foundation. The website also has information about other ways you can make a gift.
ASCP Develops Immuno-oncology Strategy to Hone Skills of the Multidisciplinary Cancer Care Team
The rapidly changing field of immuno-oncology has begun to show great potential to revolutionize cancer treatment. In response to member needs, ASCP formed an immuno-oncology workgroup to develop a comprehensive educational strategy to support the advancement of immuno-oncology diagnostics and treatment in the laboratory. ASCP’s Immuno-oncology Education Strategy is designed to enhance general knowledge and skills related to immuno-oncology among pathologists and laboratory professionals, address implementation barriers in the multidisciplinary cancer care team, and share outcomes and best practices. As a result of industry support, the first of the three online education modules launched in early December.
The primary audience for ASCP’s education efforts will be pathologists, laboratory professionals, and other healthcare professionals (primarily oncologists, but other clinical specialties as appropriate) involved in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Stayed tuned for more details on this innovative curriculum.
CMS Pushes Forward With Major Cuts to Lab Fee Schedule
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to move forward with its plans to change the way laboratory tests are reimbursed by the Medicare program, and the result will likely be huge cuts in Medicare revenues for clinical laboratories. In November, CMS released new laboratory payment rates it plans to implement on January 1, 2018. The new prices are required by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act, which requires CMS to revise the Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) using market rate data. The new payment rates are based on payment rate and associated test volume data reported by independent laboratories in early 2017. ASCP is alarmed by the cuts CMS is projecting to the CLFS. CMS is projecting cuts of approximately $670 million dollars—about twice as much as the Agency originally projected. ASCP has been working closely with its sister laboratory organizations to halt the Agency’s implementation of the new fee schedule. See ASCP’s ePolicy monthly newsletter for more information.
Erratum: The October news section of Critical Values incorrectly identified the photos of Ms. Diana Mass, who received an ASCP Mastership, and Dr. Kathleen Doyle, who received the Member Lifetime Achievement Award at ASCP 2017 Chicago. We apologize for this mistake.
