Well Said
To suggest that any physician who goes into private practice and has their > own lab is any more of a money hound than any other physician at a > hospital would also be disingenuous . And of course this is about money. > It's about one group of people trying to get another group of people out > of the lab business because they want that money. It's also about the > government squeezing insurance companies into these more stringent > regulations. Now I'm not against more stringent regulations but I do find > it offensive of how they are going about it. The little guy will take the > hits on this one. I guess what they want is a bunch of walmart like labs. > Private practices serve a patient care cause just as hospital labs do. > They all make a diagnosis. They all deserve to be paid. > > My 2 cents > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Apr 9, 2012, at 4:47 PM, Daniel Schneider <dlschnei...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> This is all about the money. The rest is rationalization. >> >> The reason a group of non-pathologist physicians opens an in-house >> pathology lab and hires an employee pathologist is first and foremost >> to harvest profit from pathology reimbursement. Be a fly on the wall in >> the >> partners' meetings and you would know that's what they are talking >> about. >> >> To suggest otherwise is disingenuous. >> >> And the implication that the generalist anatomic pathologist is >> unqualified >> to be signing out skins, prostates, GI's and whatever is reprehensible. >> This is not cardiac bypass surgery, and AP pathologists *are* trained to >> do >> all of the above. I eagerly defer to subspecialty expert consultants as >> needed, but most of the time they're not needed. >> >> Hospital labs that see few, if any skins, prostates, GI's, are only in >> that >> pickle because of the cherrypicking they've already been subjected to. >> >> *"in-office AP labs are an emerging frontier of employment for >> histologists >> and pathologists. In an era of high unemployment, another source of >> employment for our professions is "a good thing.""* >> >> Really? The jobs follow the specimens. Given the same number of >> specimens, >> there's the same number of jobs, more or less, just under different >> circumstances and in different locations Unless you're suggesting that >> in-office labs will generate increased specimens, and thus increased >> jobs >> though overutilization, i.e. excessive numbers of unnecessary biopsies >> and >> abuse of the patient and the taxpayer. In which case I have to say >> there's >> a grain of truth. And the truth hurts. And it's not " a good thing." >> >> None of this should be taken as criticism of histotechs and pathologists >> who find themselves working in an in-office lab. I know there's bills to >> pay, families to take care of, and god knows it's hard for a pathologist >> to >> find a job these days with the numbers our residency programs keep >> churning >> out (but that's another rant...). >> >> Dan Schneider, MD >> Amarillo, TX >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 12:52 PM, <jdcoch...@aol.com> wrote: >> >>> >>> Histonetters: >>> >>> In-office AP labs provide a valuable service to the practices they >>> serve >>> by facilitating 1) better communication between pathologists and >>> ordering >>> clinicians, 2) quality metrics that are practice-specific, and 3) high >>> volume, sub-specialization for both histotechnologists and >>> pathologists. >>> In other words, the more of one type of histopathology a lab does >>> (e.g., >>> skin, prostate, GI), the better it gets. Most people would not think >>> of >>> having their cardiac bypass surgery done at a community hospital doing >>> 50/year; you want to go where more than 500/year are done. In >>> histopathology, the kinds of volume you want are in the thousands for >>> each >>> tissue type. Many hospital labs do little skin or prostate histology >>> anymore. Many sub-specialty in-office AP labs may do thousands of >>> cases of >>> one tissue type every year. >>> >>> Aside from that, in-office AP labs are an emerging frontier of >>> employment >>> for histologists and pathologists. In an era of high unemployment, >>> another >>> source of employment for our professions is "a good thing." >>> >>> This requirement by an insurer for accreditation will help to validate >>> these in-office AP labs' commitment to quality and put them on the >>> level >>> with their hospital counterparts. >>> >>> John D. Cochran, MD, FCAP >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Histonet mailing list >>> Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu >>> http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Histonet mailing list >> Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu >> http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet