From the President’s Desk: What’s the state of your state pathology society?

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State medical societies, which try to influence how these laws and regulations are written, represent the entirety of the house of medicine and don’t always understand our view well enough. It is important that they see strong representation from pathologists in their state. This will have a real impact on how much our perspective is considered.

If you practice in one of the 15 or so states where the pathology association is dormant or nonexistent, there are things you can do to improve the situation. I see Georgia as a great example of how a state society can be turned around. After a decade of inactivity—and fueled by the threat of a balance billing law that would have negative consequences for pathologists and our patients—my colleagues and I pushed to re-establish the Georgia Association of Pathology. It took several of us and the CAP to revive the society. Last fall we had an annual meeting for the first time in years, and it was a great success.

I have a personal interest in state pathology organizations and have had the good fortune to attend numerous state pathology meetings. We need to promote them so that we will have even more robust state pathology associations. Each of these state societies should have a strong relationship with the CAP because it is mutually beneficial for our organizations and is even more beneficial for pathologists and our patients. Remember: If we don’t have a voice at the state level, then the pathologist’s point of view will not be considered adequately in state legislation and regulations that govern our practices.

I would like to thank Megan Wick, Barry Ziman, and Charles Fiegl, CAP’s director for advocacy communications, for their help with this column and for all state-level advocacy efforts.n

Dr. Godbey welcomes communication from CAP members. Write to him at president@cap.org.