From the President’s Desk

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Investing in the pathology pipeline

Emily E. Volk, MD

August 2022—The CAP has been advocating for an increase in residency slots that would help give more young physicians the opportunity to embrace careers in pathology. We support the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, bipartisan legislation that is working its way through both chambers of Congress. It would add 14,000 Medicare-supported residency slots over the course of seven years and help ensure an open pipeline for pathologists.

Between pandemic burnout and the retirement cliff resulting from an aging population of physicians, we are facing a shortage of all physicians, pathologists included. The CAP projects that the number of pathologists will shrink in the coming years.

Unfortunately, when there are not enough pathologists to lead clinical laboratory teams, it creates a gap that has to be filled somehow. Many of us have already seen health care gaps being filled by people with less extensive and intensive training. For care at the bedside, that may be through nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other physician extenders. In pathology, it may be through roles for pathologists’ assistants and cytotechnologists with less physician supervision, or PhD colleagues reaching into clinical leadership roles.

We need to make sure the environment we’re working in supports having physician-led care teams—and the way to do that is to make sure there are enough physicians down the road. That’s why the CAP is investing in the pipeline issue. We are intentionally recruiting the next generation of pathologists through programs that reach all the way to high schools to make talented young people interested in STEM aware that pathology is a pathway they can take. The CAP is also reaching out to undergrads and medical students with similar messages about the opportunity for anyone interested in medicine, population health, and the more rigorous analytical discipline that pathology offers.

Dr. Volk