Patrick Godbey, MD
June 2020—Like so many CAP TODAY readers, I have been spending the vast majority of my time working on COVID-19. In Georgia we have the dubious distinction of having a county with one of the highest per capita death rates due to COVID-19 in the country—at least as of early May when I wrote this. Things are moving so fast with this pandemic that by the time you read this, much will have changed.
I would like to congratulate the CAP community for its dedicated response to the pandemic. More than 1,000 CAP-accredited laboratories stepped up to provide COVID-19 diagnostic services, even when instruments, reagents, and other necessary supplies were extremely difficult to acquire. We begged, borrowed, and, well, did some other things to get quality testing going. Here in the U.S., pathologists and the laboratories we direct have been providing diagnoses and test results to more than 100,000 patients every day. This will continue to increase, as will demand.
Even as the market saw a deluge of low-quality antibody tests and tremendous pressure to implement them, pathologists across the country stood up and insisted on using tests that have been proved to be more accurate. In a time of unprecedented demand for tests, I am proud of the pathologists who knew that bad data is worse than no data and who stood their ground. Together, we have ensured that the COVID-19 results produced in our labs are as reliable as possible. This is yet another reason why pathologists are, and must continue to be, responsible for leading medical laboratories.
Our community has suffered tremendously from the economic damage this pandemic has inflicted. In a recent CAP member survey, some 70 percent of pathologists and lab professionals reported reduced work hours as well as reduced pay and increased burnout. The median decrease in anatomic pathology testing was 69 percent, a significant revenue cut for our laboratories.
The CAP understands this pain because our organization is made up entirely of pathologists and those who will be. Throughout this crisis, the CAP has worked hard to find ways to bring relief to our community. In April, the CAP made more than 60 online CME and SAM courses available to its members for free. I took CAP CME courses myself and hope that you, too, were able to take advantage of this great service. In addition, the CAP made available a daily lecture series aimed at residents. This has been a tremendous success with more than 7,000 registrants and an average daily attendance of more than 800.
More broadly, the CAP has been a strong advocate for us with the government. The CAP has already requested that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services not implement the eight percent cut scheduled to go into effect next year and has presented evidence of why this should not occur. The CAP also ensured that pathologists and the labs we direct were in line for federal support programs. Thanks to the CAP, pathologists are eligible for benefits directed at physicians through Medicare and Medicaid, and many of our practices are eligible for benefits targeting small businesses. If you have not visited the CAP website lately, I encourage you to check it out. There are excellent practice management resources as well as detailed information about the financial assistance programs available to pathologists.
As we consider how best to move forward in this pandemic, COVID-19 testing will remain essential. The CAP has established proficiency testing protocols so we can make sure our laboratories continue to produce the most reliable results possible. As we bring back elective surgeries and other procedures, we will need to be vigilant but not paranoid. The services we provide will be crucial to helping the country reopen safely. I expect that many health care institutions will implement increased COVID-19 testing of patients before they ramp up their regular day-to-day activities. In addition, antibody testing will give us insight into how many people were at some point exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
I mentioned this last month and regret that I must say it again: Some continue to use this crisis for their own gain rather than make patient care the priority. I am deeply disappointed by their actions and sincerely hope they will do a better job in the future. The goal must be to take care of our patients, both the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.
If there is one thing I hope we never lose sight of, even long after this pandemic is behind us, it is the incredible value of pathologists and the laboratories we direct. It is the pathologist-led laboratory that tells you if a patient has COVID-19. We are and should be responsible for accurate testing. Without our services, other physicians are in the dark and must guess. The laboratory is key for high-quality health care, and that is a lesson that none of us affected by COVID-19 should ever forget.
Dr. Godbey welcomes communication from CAP members. Write to him at president@cap.org.