Well said!
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 30, 2012, at 1:19 PM, Jay Lundgren <jaylundg...@gmail.com> wrote:
It's never made sense to me to submit prostate biopsies A-L in
separate containers. I'm not an Interventional Radiologist or a Urologist,
but when was the last time you saw a Urologic Surgeon remove 1/12 of a
prostate? And even for targeted radiation or prostate brachytherapy
(radioactive seeds) I would think localizing the neoplasm in a specific
quadrant would be sufficient. I've worked in several labs where multiple
prostate bxs would be submitted in one container (after agreement by the
Clinician and the Pathologist) to save a non-insured patient money.
In my opinion, this is only the beginning. If the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act kicks in, I think the 15 member Independent
Payment Advisory Board is going to be finding A LOT of procedures like this
that the government will refuse to pay for. Even if one could make an
argument that a procedure is medically sound, these decisions will be made
after a cost/benefit analysis. e.g.:
Is it beneficial to submit every appendix when the incidence rate of
carcinoid tumor of the appendix is 1 in 100,000? (source:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1356383/)
Is it worth it to diagnose *Helicobacter *via (highly
remunerative) IHC when they can be visualized on an H&E? Especially since
there is an inexpensive, simple and safe breath test available.
Brace yourselves Histonet, winter is coming.
Sincerely,
Jay A. Lundgren, M.S., HTL
(ASCP)
_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
